Judge: Trial ‘almost halfway through…’

NOT FORGOTTEN The names of the victims of the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre are written on markers at the carnage site in Barangay Salman, Ampatuan town in Maguindanao. NICO ALCONABA / INQUIRER MINDANAO

Behind a desk covered with stacks of papers, Quezon City Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes spends the day poring over case folders of the 2009 Maguindanao massacre.

After four years, with 139 prosecution witnesses already presented, the folders have grown in number to 70.

“As far as the court is concerned, we are almost halfway [through], since the prosecution is almost done with its presentation of evidence,” Reyes said in an interview on Thursday evening.

Reyes, 53, presiding judge of the 221st Branch of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, has the hazardous job of trying the multiple murder charge brought by the state against members of the once-powerful Ampatuan clan for shooting down 58 people in Maguindanao province on Nov. 23, 2009.

The Ampatuans were so feared that the first judge to whose court the case had been raffled off refused to handle it for fear for his life.

‘Just a job’

But for Reyes, who took the case on Dec. 17, 2009, it was “just a job.”

For security reasons, however, she has been hearing the case in a police camp in Bicutan district in Taguig City whenever the presence of the accused is required.

Fifty-eight people, including 32 media workers, were killed to stop the challenge to the Ampatuan clan’s political monopoly in Maguindanao launched by Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu.

It was the worst election-related violence in Philippine history, and then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had to place Maguindanao under martial law to stop the Ampatuans’ followers from blocking the arrest and prosecution of the clan’s members.

There were originally 197 accused in the case, but one has died and another has been cleared.

Family affair

Among the 195 accused left are the clan patriarch, Andal Ampatuan Sr., who allegedly gave the order, his son Andal Jr., who allegedly led the gun-slayings, and another son, Zaldy Ampatuan, a former governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Father and sons and the rest face 58 counts of murder.

Citing court records, Reyes said the prosecution planned to present six more complainants and three witnesses.

After the presentation, the prosecution is expected to rest its case for the evidence in chief for all accused in custody, except for 14 who were arraigned only recently.

The prosecution has already filed its formal offer of evidence in the 58 cases, which the court will also resolve.

Defense by next year

For the defense, Andal Jr. is expected to present his side to refute the prosecution’s evidence in his bail petition by next year.

“His lawyer asked for at least a month after the court resolves the prosecution’s formal offer of evidence, to prepare before he presents his evidence,” Reyes said.

Of the 195 accused, 107 have been arrested, with 104 already arraigned on the multiple murder charges. Eighty-nine are still at large.

Sixty of the accused, including the Ampatuans, have asked the court to allow them bail. Forty-one accused who did not seek bail are already undergoing trial.

Curiously, 19 militiamen tagged in the massacre claim to have been mistakenly arrested.

Decision by 2016

The sheer volume of work that the case requires daily would overwhelm any judge, but Reyes said she was optimistic that she could hand down a decision by 2016, the year President Aquino’s term ends.

“I am still keeping my fingers crossed. I like to think positive,” Reyes said.

As to private prosecutor

Harry Roque’s claim that the trial would take 16 years, Reyes said: “I respect that, he is entitled to his own opinion.”

Reyes said that she always prays for strength for herself and her staff so they can continue handling the case.

When the trial of the case was first transferred to Quezon City in December 2009, it was initially raffled off to Judge Luisito Cortez of the 84th branch of the Quezon City court. Cortez declined the case, citing dangers to his family and himself.

A special raffle was held and on Dec. 17 that year, the case landed in the court of Reyes, until then unknown to the press.

Reyes rarely talks to reporters about the case. She stays up late in her chambers resolving pleadings and motions.

“I started this case in 2009 when I was 49,” is her way of answering questions about her age.

Reyes became a trial court judge in 2005, handling all sorts of civil and criminal cases until the Maguindanao massacre case landed in her court.

Can’t just drop it

A friend once asked her why she had not applied for a promotion. (Reyes has been a regional trial court judge for eight years and is now qualified for a promotion.)

“I will handle this (case) as long as I can. If I think of a promotion now, I will just be selfish, just thinking of myself,” she said.

She said other, more intelligent judges could handle the case, but she had handled it from the beginning and knows the case practically by heart.

“I am not saying that I am the only one who can finish this. But I cannot just leave it, drop it like that without thinking of my sworn duty,” Reyes said.

Maguindanao Massacre Fast Facts

1,461

total number of days since the Maguindanao massacre

(Nov. 23, 2009 to Nov. 23, 2013)

58

total number of massacre victims

32

total number of journalists and media workers killed in the massacre

197

total number of people originally charged with murder (the figure includes the two cases dropped in July 2010 and May 2013)

89

total number of suspects at large with standing warrants of arrest

(as of Nov. 19, 2013)

108

total number of suspects arrested (as of Nov. 19, 2013)

104

total number of suspects arraigned (as of Nov. 19, 2013)

1,418

total number of days since the Maguindanao massacre trial began (Jan. 05, 2010  to Nov. 23, 2013)

Sources: Inquirer Archives, Regional Trial Court Branch 221, timeanddate.com

 Originally posted at 8:50 p.m. | November 22, 2013