Ampatuan (Maguindanao) Massacre trial update: Andal Sr. asks court to arraign him
CMFR/PHILIPPINES – The patriarch of the Ampatuan clan has asked the Quezon City court trying him and 195 others to arraign him in the next hearing.
In an 18 May 2011 motion, Andal Ampatuan Sr. requested through his counsel that he be arraigned on 25 May 2011. The hearings on the Ampatuan Multiple Murder case have been postponed for a week to give way to a court stenographers’ convention.
Andal Sr. is the head of the Ampatuan family, some of whose members are the primary suspects in the 23 November 2009 killing of 57 persons in Maguindanao province. Only 57 of the 196 charged have been arraigned since the trial began in January 2010. More than a hundred remain free, including some sons and grandsons of Andal Sr.
Petitions for bail
Meanwhile, aside from filing a motion to dismiss the charges against him, former Maguindanao Gov. Sajid Islam Ampatuan filed a petition for bail last 19 May 2011 claiming that he “had been baselessly implicated in these cases even when there is no evidence on record showing that he participated in the so-called Maguindanao Massacre on November 23, 2009.” The former Maguindanao governor has asked the court to hear his petition.
Sajid Islam, however, insisted in his six-page petition that the Quezon City Regional Trial Court cannot compel him to undergo arraignment just because he has applied for bail.
“In the light of the pleadings which were filed by Datu Sajid questioning the defects in the conduct of the: preliminary investigation; filing of Informations; issuance of warrant of arrest; his illegal detention and other serious violations of his constitutional rights, Datu Sajid hereby states that he does not want and cannot be compelled to be arraigned in these cases,“ the petition read. “This is pursuant to the ruling of the Supreme Court in Manolet O. Lavides vs. The Honorable Court of Appeals. et aI., G.R. No. 129670, February 1, 2000.…”
Sajid Islam’s petition highlighted the Manolet O. Lavide vs. The Court of Appeals decision in which the Supreme court said that “bail should be granted before arraignment, otherwise the accused may be precluded from filing a motion to quash. For if the information is quashed and the case is dismissed, there would then be no need for the arraignment of the accused.”
A group of policemen accused of involvement in the Massacre also filed through the Public Attorney’s Office a petition for bail last May 2011. In their petition, SPO2 George Labayan, SPO1 Elizer Rendaje, SPO1 Alimola Guianon, PO3 Ricky Balanueco, PO2 Rexson Guiama, PO1 Amir Solaiman, PO1 Ebara Bebot, PO1 Tamano Sahibal, PO1 Michael Macarongon, PO1 Mahamad Balading and PO1 Bensedik Alfonso said the “evidence of guilt against (them) is not strong and as such they are entitled to bail under the pertinent provision of the Constitution and the Rules on Criminal Procedure.”
Hospitalization of Andal Sr.
Meanwhile, the Regional Trial Court Branch 221 of Quezon City has decided that a doctor from the government’s Philippine General Hospital or the AFP Medical Center (V. Luna Medical Center) instead of his personal physician at the Makati Medical Center (MMC) should examine Andal Sr. to determine if there is a basis for his claim that his left leg and foot are swollen.
In a 18 May 2011 order, Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes modified the recommendation of the BJMP physician to bring the patriarch to a doctor Glenn Santos after the court found out that there was no Glenn Santos working as a physician at the MMC.
BJMP physician Chief Inspector Ma. Victoria Valeria recommended last 4 May 2011 that Andal Sr. be examined by Glenn Santos of the Makati Medical Center. Valeria said Glenn Santos had previously prescribed medication for Andal Sr., and that professional courtesy dictates that she let Santos continue overseeing Andal Sr.’s treatment.
“(T)he court deems it proper to refer the accused to a government physician it appearing that the physician, Dr. Glenn Santos, recommended by J/CInsp. Valeria is not an attending physician of the (MMC) per Certification dated May 16, 2011 issued by Dr. Florencio Gerardo O. Caedo Jr., Assistant Director, Medical Services Division, Makati Medical Center,” the 18 May 2011 order read.
The court also ordered the government doctors who will examine Andal Sr. to “immediately submit to the court the results” of their examination.
[…] more here. Share […]
Sites We Like…
[…]just below, are some totally unrelated sites to ours, however, they are definitely worth checking out[…]…
Related.. Trackback…
[…]the time to read or visit the content or sites we have linked to below the[…]…