AMPATUAN TRIAL UPDATE: Technicalities delay proceedings
IN EARLY February, the bail hearings in the trial for multiple murder of Andal “Unsay” Ampatuan Jr. and other alleged perpetrators of the Nov. 23, 2009 killing of at least 57 persons including 32 journalists and media workers were delayed. These delays once again highlighted the vulnerability of Philippine criminal proceedings to procedural technicalities.
The case has yet to enter the trial proper because the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) has to hear the bail petition filed by the lawyers of Ampatuan Jr. Bail is a matter of right for the accused in the Philippines, and, unlike in other countries, a petition for bail requires the prosecution to show a strong possibility of guilt. Bail proceedings usually take time to be resolved, and in this case have so far taken more than three months.
The filing of more than a dozen judicial motions, with nine pending resolution including a motion for reconsideration of the denial of the defense motion for recusation and a second recusation motion against Judge Jocelyn Solis Reyes, also contribute to the prolonged postponement of the bail proceedings. The bail proceedings were first suspended on Feb. 10, as per a defense request which was anticipating the possible filing of the 196 additional accused of their own petitions for bail. The prosecution agreed, and the proceedings were postponed to Feb. 24.
The prosecution filed last Feb. 9 a “Motion with Leave of Court to admit Amended Informations”, naming 196 other persons for the killing of the members of the Mangudadatu convoy led by Bai Genalin Mangudadatu, wife of Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu. Mangudadatu was Unsay’s rival for the gubernatorial race in Maguindanao.
Instead of continuing the bail hearing, Judge Reyes announced on Feb. 24 the indefinite postponement of the bail proceedings pending the resolution of the Feb. 9 motion for recusation filed by the lawyers of Unsay Ampatuan and other motions filed by defense lawyers. The Feb. 9 motion requested “the presiding judge (to) desist from further trying the case by affirming her immediate recusal as accused Andal Ampatuan Jr. perceives her to be technically unprepared to rule on objections during trial, and thus does not expect her to act on balance in the evaluation of the evidence and the final resolution of both the bail incident, and the resolution of these cases.”
There has been no substantial progress in the Ampatuan multiple murder trial since. The prosecution and defense have merely exchanged oppositions, rejoinders and other motions related to the case in court and the Department of Justice resolution to file the Amended Informations.
Motion denied
The long lull was cut on March 19, when Judge Reyes of the Quezon City RTC Branch 221 denied the motion for recusation filed by the defense lawyers of Unsay Ampatuan asking her to inhibit from hearing the case for her alleged bias, “ineptness, and misconduct”.
In her order, Reyes said: “…her acts did not contravene any of the principles of the Code of Judicial Conduct, The alleged bias against the accused and ineptness attributed to her as grounds for her recusal are matters which the former failed to substantiate.”
Judge Reyes then ordered on March 24 the arrest of 189 accused persons named in the Amended Informations and the continuing detention of Andal Ampatuan Sr., Zaldy Ampatuan, Akmad Tato Ampatuan, Anwar Ampatuan and Sajid Islam Ampatuan and alleged private army members Takpan Dilon and Esmael Canapia after the court found the “existence of probable cause to hold the one hundred ninety-six (196) additional accused named in the fifty-six (56) Amended Informations for trial on fifty-six (56) counts of Murder under Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended.” (As of April 16, the DoJ cting secretary has ordered the dropping of charges against Zaldy and Akmad Tato.)
In her order, she said: “A cursory reading of the Amended Informations sought to be admitted clearly shows that the same merely included therein the names of additional accused who allegedly conspired with accused Andal Ampatuan Jr. in the alleged commission of the offense of murder on 56 counts….”
The Information for the 57th victim, UNTV anchor Victor Nuñez, was also filed along with the 56 Amended Informations, a private prosecutor said. An “Information” contains the details of a crime, including the names of the probable perpetrators.
Lawyer Nena Santos, who represents the Mangudadatus, Mangudadatus’ supporters, and some civilian victims expressed satisfaction with the order. “We are happy with the order of the court. The wheels of justice are moving, albeit not swift, but we are confident that (if) we will get justice done once the other accused will be arrested and brought to the bar of justice,” she told the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) in a text message March 25.
As of April 16, Unsay Ampatuan and five other Ampatuans are detained at the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) Camp Bagong Diwa.
Another postponement?
But another postponement might be called due to a defense motion for reconsideration of the denial of the recusation motion they filed against Judge Reyes.
The motion for reconsideration said: “…his request for the Judge’s recusal is his perception that she cannot dispense equal justice as she is technically unprepared to do so.”
But even before the judge had resolved the said motion for reconsideration, a second recusation was filed by accused Unsay. The second recusation alleged that Judge Reyes’ March 24 order directing the continued detention of five relatives of accused Unsay (see subheading “Rebellion charges dismissed”) was a “faux pas” as she had no jurisdiction yet over their persons. For being “technically deficient,” the second motion for recusation claimed she should inhibit herself from the case. The prosecution was informed of the motion during the April 7 hearing on other pending motions at the QC Hall of Justice.
The court has yet to issue an order setting the dates of the bail proceedings. The arraignment of the accused police officers will be on April 21. There are also petitions for review and motions for reconsideration filed by some of the 196 additional accused pending before the Department of Justice. The prosecution was given ten days from April 7 to comment on or oppose the various motions filed by the defense.
Inhibition asked
Meanwhile, three private prosecutors have asked the acting Justice secretary to inhibit himself from participating in any proceedings directly or indirectly connected to the Ampatuan multiple murder case.
Lawyers Nena Santos, Prima Jesusa Quinsayas and Ma. Gemma Oquendo requested such after acting secretary Alberto Agra declared in a television interview that evidence linking former Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy Ampatuan to the Nov. 23 massacre was insufficient. Agra said during an April 5 interview with TV-5’s Aksyon that Zaldy Ampatuan was not in Maguindanao from Nov. 19 to 24.
In an April 6 letter, the lawyers reprimanded Agra, saying that he made these statements despite knowledge that Zaldy was among the 196 persons admitted by the QC RTC as an accused in the Ampatuan multiple murder case. Agra’s pronouncement, they said, is “tantamount to absolving (Zaldy).”
“Considering that these cases are viewed by our countrymen and the international community as a gauge of our determination and resolve to stamp out the culture of impunity that stands in the way of our nation’s growth and prosperity and threatens our very democracy, we trust your sense of decency and justice shall prevail and persuade you to involuntarily inhibit yourself from said cases.”
On April 16, Agra approved the petitions for review of Zaldy and Akmad Tato and ordered the dropping of murder charges against the two.
Arrest of two policemen
Meanwhile last March 26, two policemen who were supposed to be under restrictive custody in the Philippine National Police Camp Crame headquarters were arrested on the strength of the arrest warrants issued by Judge Reyes.
In a 27 March 2010 Philippine Star report, Police Superintendent Joaquin Alva, spokesman of the Special Investigation Task Group Manguindanao, announced the arrest of Police Superintendent Bahnarin Kamaong and Police Inspector Abdulgapor Abad. Kamaong and Abad were unaccounted for during a check on the policemen under “restrictive custody” at the Police National Headquarters in Camp Crame.
When asked why they were able to leave camp, Alva told the Star that the two were allowed to leave camp after “securing permission”.
A private prosecutor told CMFR that the whereabouts of two other police officers—PO1 Arnulfo Soriano and PO1 Marsouk Mascud— who are also supposed to be under “restrictive custody” are unknown. Both Soriano and Mascud, according to the DOJ February 9 resolution, were at the police checkpoint where the Magudadatu convoy was stopped on Nov. 23, 2009.
PNP Chief Jesus Versoza has called on the Western Mindanao Directorate for Integrated Police Operations to form “tracker teams” to look for other accused-at-large.
Meanwhile, the National Police Commission announced last April 16 the suspension petition filed by the families of 13 journalists/media workers killed in the Ampatuan massacre.
Rebellion charges dismissed
In the rebellion case, Quezon City RTC Branch 77 judge Vivencio Baclig ordered last March 26 the release of Andal Ampatuan Sr., Zaldy Ampatuan, Akmad Tato Ampatuan, Anwar Ampatuan and Sajid Islam Ampatuan and their detained armed followers “unless they are (being) held by a court of law for other lawful cause/s” after the prosecution failed to establish probable cause in the rebellion charges filed against them in December 2009.
“The essential element of public armed uprising against the government is lacking,” Baclig’s order stated. “There were no masses or multitudes involving crowd action done in furtherance of a political end. So, even assuming that there was uprising, there is no showing that the purpose of the uprising is political, that is, to overthrow the duly constituted government in order to establish another form of government. In other words, the second element of rebellion is also absent.”
The lawyers of the detained Ampatuans tried to free their clients when Baclig issued the release order. But Ampatuan Sr., Zaldy, Akmad Tato, Anwar, Sajid Islam and two of their armed followers will remain in detention in compliance with the commitment orders issued by Judge Reyes in the multiple murder case. The five Ampatuans and two followers are among the accused in the multiple murder case.
The defense counsels filed the motion for judicial determination of probable cause and the motion for deferment of transfer of custody of the detained accused persons last December 2009 and February 2010, respectively. The motions were heard jointly by Judge Baclig at the QC RTC where the case had been transferred from Cotabato City.
On April 8, the prosecution filed a motion for reconsideration claiming that Judge Baclig “committed grave abuse of discretion when he allowed defense to participate in the proceedings by allowing the latter to cross-examine and adduce evidence.” The prosecution contends that “judicial determination of probable cause is a matter to be determined by the judge whose discretion is limited to requiring the prosecution to adduce additional evidence in case of doubt.”
The same motion seeks the inhibition of Judge Baclig as he is “perceived to have prejudged the case, and has manifested bias and gross ignorance of the rules of court.”
Appeal to ASEAN
Meanwhile, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) told families of slain journalists that it still has no power to look into specific cases of human rights violations in ASEAN member states.
According to an abs-cbnNews.com/Newsbreak March 29 report, Indonesian commissioner to the AICHR Rafendi Djamin said the AICHR has yet to have the power to investigate individual cases. The representatives of thirteen families of journalists killed in the Ampatuan massacre—assisted by the Manila-based Center for International Law—filed a preliminary request asking the AICHR last February for an “urgent declaration calling on the Philippine State to ensure that the perpetrators of the heinous human rights violation – who are all agents of the Philippine State – are brought to justice and adequate reparations are made to the heirs of the victims under applicable rules of international law.”
“[Investigation of] individual complaints is not part of the power of AICHR. Not yet,” Newsbreak quoted Djamin as saying.
Comments are closed.