Zaldy Ampatuan to file motion to quash multiple murder raps

MANILA, Philippines—To avoid arraignment, former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan intends to ask the Court of Appeals this week to set aside its ruling upholding the multiple murder charges against him, Ampatuan’s lawyer said Wednesday.

Lawyer Redemberto Villanueva said they would file a motion for reconsideration before the appellate court for it to recall its ruling that affirmed the Department of Justice decision to charge him for the Maguindanao massacre.

“We will be filing a motion for reconsideration not later than this week,” Villanueva said at the sidelines of the massacre case trial in Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan, Taguig City.

Last week, the Court of Appeals dismissed Ampatuan’s petition challenging the DOJ resolution charging him for the massacre on Nov. 23, 2009 that left 57 persons dead, many of them media practitioners. (One media worker believed to be among the fatalities remained missing.)

Government prosecutors then asked Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes, who is trying the massacre case, to finally determine if there was enough probable cause to charge and arraign Ampatuan for the gruesome killings.

The former ARMM governor has a pending motion for a judicial determination of probable cause before Reyes and this was stopping the prosecution from having him arraigned.

At the hearing Wednesday, the arraignment of three accused—Armando Ambalgan and policemen Supt. Bahnarin Kamaong and P01 Sandy Sabang—did not push through.

Ambalgan’s arraignment was reset after his lawyer withdrew his services and Ambalgan claimed that his name was actually Bulatakan Omar Kayansang.

Judge Reyes gave him 15 days to find a new lawyer while the prosecution was told to have his name corrected before his arraignment.

On the other hand, Kamaong and Sabang’s arraignment was reset after their lawyer filed a motion to quash the charges against them.

The prosecution then brought to the witness stand scene of the crime operations team photographer SP04 Aldrin Foro, who presented to the court the pictures he took of the crime site in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao province and the victims.