2 massacre suspects nabbed after Ampatuan verdict to face trial
Tracker teams to look for other suspects at large
MANILA, Philippines — A Quezon City court has ordered the transfer of two recently arrested Ampatuan massacre suspects to Camp Bagong Diwa from detention in Maguindanao.
Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Presiding Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes ordered the commitment of Kagi Faizal, alias Faizal Baga Dimaukom, and Gambayan Kasim, alias Lori Alip, to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.
Reyes also set the arraignment of the two suspects, who are facing multiple murder charges over the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, on Tuesday, January 21.
"Let these cases be revived and returned to the active docket of this court," the order read.
On Dec. 19, 2019. Reyes convicted 28 people, including former regional governor Zaldy Ampatuan, on 57 counts of murder.
Fifteen, including 14 police officers, meanwhile were found guilty as accessories to the crime.
At the time that Reyes issued the ruling, 80 of the accused were still at large.
Police arrested Faizal in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao on January 6. Kasim meanwhile voluntarily surrendered when police barged into his house in Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao on January 10.
The Ampatuans have started appealing the guilty verdict handed down by Judge Reyes before the Quezon City court and the Court of Appeals.
Presidential Communications Undersecretary Joel Egco, head of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, said his office will "schedule a coordinating meeting among various law enforcement agencies involved to effect the arrest" of the remaining suspects at large.
He added, in a message to reporters, that the meeting will also discuss the creation of "multi-agency tracker teams."
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