Maguindanao massacre: 3 accused acquitted for lack of evidence

Police investigators look for evidence on a mangled vehicle unearthed at place where human remains were dug up from a shallow grave after gunmen shot 57 people in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao on Nov. 25, 2009. (File photo by TED ALJIBE / AFP)

Branch 221 of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court has dismissed multiple charges against three suspects in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre for lack of evidence.

Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes acquitted Kominie Inggo, Dexson Saptula, and Abas Anongan of 58 counts of murder and ordered their immediate release from detention in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

In a June 23 decision, Reyes granted the three men’s demurrers to evidence after the court resolved that the prosecution had failed to prove their guilt.

A demurrer to evidence is a motion to dismiss filed by the defendant after the plaintiff has rested his or her case on the ground of insufficiency of evidence.

The court said the prosecution had “failed to prove the existence of all elements of murder” with regards to the accused.

It also said the identities of the three men were not established by the prosecution.

Only the arresting officers of Saptula and Anongan identified and testified against them during the trial, but the policemen did not have any personal knowledge of the crime, the court noted.

Meanwhile, no eyewitness or arresting officer was presented against Inggo.

“A perusal of record will show that no one from the prosecution eyewitness had identified any of the three accused herein that they were indeed at the place where the crime was committed,” the order read.

Fifty-eight persons, including 32 journalists, were waylaid on Nov. 23, 2009, allegedly by men of the ruling Ampatuan clan in Maguindanao province.

Esmael Mangudadatu, then vice mayor of Buluan town, sent his wife, two sisters, lawyers, and aides to file his certificate of candidacy for governor against Andal Ampatuan, who was then mayor of Datu Unsay town. Journalists joined them to cover the unprecedented move against a member of the Ampatuan clan.

They were shot and buried in graves excavated with a backhoe on a hilltop overlooking the highway. /atm