De Lima: Massacre trial ‘on track’, convictions by 2016

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima

MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Leila de Lima believes that the Maguindanao massacre trial is “on track” despite its slow progress, and even hopes of securing convictions by the end of President Benigno Aquino’s term in 2016.

“We are doing what we should…. We may be delayed, but at least we’re on track. People should start worrying or be alarmed if nothing is going on in the hearings… but that’s not at all the case. There are always hearings, and in these hearings, there are witnesses and evidence being presented…. Something happens every hearing,” De Lima told reporters at the inauguration of the new, six-story Quezon City Hall of Justice building on Saturday.

De Lima said the slow progress was to be expected “because of the sheer number of personalities and players” involved in the case. “The court is also careful to evaluate the pieces of evidence,” De Lima said.

The Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221, which is handling the case, is still hearing the bail petitions of 70 of the 194 accused. But the testimonies and evidence presented constitute integral parts of the trial, enabling the judge to decide whether to grant an accused the right to bail on the basis of the evidence so far presented.

The Justice secretary pointed out that in the bail petition hearings, the prosecution has already finished presenting evidence against 63 of the 70 accused, which involved the presentation of 147 witnesses.

The accused are currently presenting their witnesses for their bail petitions, De Lima said, with the prosecution lawyers currently cross-examining the 15 witnesses presented by the camp of accused Zaldy Ampatuan.

De Lima also underscored that on Friday, Quezon City RTC Branch 221 denied the bail petition of one of the principal accused, Chief Insp. Sukarno Dicay, following the recent granting of the bail petition of two batches of accused.

“That to me is a notable success for the prosecution. Dicay was the [acting police chief] at the time, and based on the testimonies of vital witnesses, he was involved in the planning and execution of the massacre,” De Lima said.

De Lima noted that Dicay, according to witnesses, was the one who proposed to put up the checkpoints along the convoy’s route to waylay them toward the massacre site. She added there were also witnesses who pointred to him as being in the actual shootings.

“According to the witnesses, [Dicay’s] involvement is necessarily linked to the involvement of the Ampatuans, so it’s a big thing for us that his bail was denied,” De Lima said.

De Lima maintained that it was her “aspiration that by 2016, there will be a conviction, at least among the principal accused, like Datu Unsay (Andal Ampatuan Jr.).”

“We are thinking of ways and undertaking steps to make that a reality. We are banking on the Supreme Court resolution that it is allowed for the judge to [render} a separate judgment if the evidence is already complete for an accused.”

De Lima was referring to a recent high court ruling upholding the “first in, first out” policy adopted by the court in the Maguindanao massacre case in which there are more than 100 defendants.

This means that if all the evidence —both the prosecution’s and the defense’s—pertaining to some of the accused has been presented, then a judge may render judgment already with respect to those accused without having to wait for all the evidence involving the rest of the defendants to come in. Some of the accused are still at large.

Earlier, a lawyer for the families of 15 of the victims also noted that the court hearings have been faster the court adopted the “first in, first out” policy, where evidence can be presented or decisions rendered first for some of the accused, as opposed to having to wait for the case of all of the 194 accused to be heard.

“We are confident that because of this, the [case against the] first three Ampatuans, [Andal Senior and Junior] and Zaldy, will have promulgations by 2015,” Roque said at the University of the Philippines College of Law on Thursday.

“Our promise is by 2016, we will ensure that all Ampatuans and all individuals identified with the shooting will have promulgations of judgment,” Roque told the families.