MANILA, Philippines–Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Sunday refused to comment on when the trial on the Maguindanao massacre case would finish but said the Supreme Court was monitoring the pace of the proceedings.
“I don’t want to speculate,” Sereno told reporters, but added, “As Chief Justice, I am regularly updated on what is going on in the trial of People v. Ampatuan et al.”
The Chief Justice spoke during the Journalism Asia Forum on the Culture of Impunity and the Counter-Culture of Hope.
In her speech, Sereno pointed out the December 2013 guidelines which the Supreme Court issued in an effort to speed up the trial.
Under the guidelines, the High Court appointed a third assisting judge to assist presiding Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes. The assisting judge handles “the conduct of nontrial incidents … such as arraignment and pretrials” to allow Reyes to focus on the trial.
The guidelines also allowed Reyes to hold separate trials for accused against whom prosecutors would no longer present new evidence and submit such cases for decision.
Also, the High Court allowed the parties to issue judicial affidavits for witnesses instead of having them testify in court through lengthy questions and answers.
“Words of assurance even from the Chief Justice are not enough to assuage the hunger of our people for justice,” Sereno said. “What I offer is a public face to the Philippine judiciary’s sincere desire to be a genuine vessel of justice,” she added.
Despite the guidelines, Sereno said she was keeping track of the trial’s progress to see what more the Supreme Court could do to hasten the proceedings.
Today marks the fifth year since the killings.
Court records show that of the 197 accused, two have become state witnesses and information against one accused has been dismissed. A total of 111 have been arraigned and 166 witnesses have testified.
Sereno said 70 accused have filed petitions for bail, of which 42 have been resolved.
Transcripts of the case have reached 70 volumes while records of the case have reached 77 volumes.
Sereno added that there were 437 separate motions filed related to the case and the court has resolved 400.
The Chief Justice said there was close coordination among agencies through the Justice Sector Coordinating Council (JSCC) to speed up trial processes and to streamline procedures.
The Department of Interior and Local Government and the Department of Justice are part of the JSCC.
Originally posted at 03:03 pm | Nov 23, 2014
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