No SC ruling yet on Maute trial venue

The Supreme Court (SC) has yet to act on the request of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II to transfer the trial venue of arrested members of the Maute terror group from Cagayan de Oro City to Taguig City.

Theodore Te, the tribunal’s spokesperson, said the 15-member high court did not render any decision on Aguirre’s letter during its regular weekly en banc session on Tuesday.

“[There was] no action on the request of the secretary of justice. In the meantime, [the] previous resolution stands,” Te said in a text message to reporters.

Aguirre had asked the high court to reconsider its June 6 resolution which designated the regional trial courts in Cagayan de Oro City to hear the criminal cases which the government filed against the terrorists who stormed Marawi City.

He earlier urged the magistrates to create special courts outside Mindanao, which has been placed by President Rodrigo Duterte under martial law following the Maute group’s armed incursion on May 23.

In another letter to the high tribunal on Monday, the justice secretary reiterated that transferring the trial to Taguig would relieve the military in Cagayan de Oro from the burden of securing the terrorists who are currently detained at Camp Evangelista.

“We anchor our present entreaty on the imperative need to free the [soldiers] … from the additional task and concern of safeguarding the apprehended Maute group members and to enable them to focus fully and primarily on the ongoing military operations to liberate Marawi City,” Aguirre said.