Judge bucks additional massacre trial dates

MANILA, Philippines - The judge handling the 2009 Maguindanao massacre trial has declined another request from the defense panel to set additional trial dates to expedite the disposition of the multiple murder case.

In a three-page order, Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes said the recent developments in the court proceedings show there is no immediate need to set Mondays as additional hearing dates.

“It won’t take long now for the prosecution to terminate the presentation of its witnesses, both in the bail hearing and evidence-in-chief, after they filed their formal offer of evidence in opposition to the bail petitions of 12 suspects last April,” the judge said.

She noted the prosecution’s manifestation to dispense the testimonies of some of their witnesses, as well as the withdrawal of the defense objection to the presentation of suspects Rex Ariel Diongon and Esmael Kanapia.

Solis-Reyes said that setting additional trial dates on Monday will pose no problem should a need arise during the presentation defense evidence in bail hearing or the trial proper.

“After all, Mondays are likewise being utilized for other incidents such as hearing of motions filed relative to these cases,” read the order.

Court hearings are currently held at a makeshift court at the Quezon City Jail-Annex in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City every Wednesdays and Thursdays. Most suspects are detained at the said facility.

In the motion asking for additional trial dates, some defense lawyers said the court must schedule additional trial dates in “the greater interest of justice for the accused who had been languishing in jail for over three years.”

The defense said that in “under any standard, over three years of bail hearings is way, way too long.”

In opposing the motion, the prosecution panel said the delays in the proceedings were not because of their refusal to set additional trial dates but due to the defense counsels’ refusal to allow the presentation of some witnesses, including Diongon and Kanapia.

The prosecution also noted that additional trial dates would be “humanly impossible” as they are also handling other cases aside from the Maguindanao massacre.

Last week, Solis-Reyes dismissed the motion of former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy Ampatuan to schedule separate court proceedings for his case.

She said it would be “more apt that the proceedings of the case against all accused be jointly tried.”

A total of 197 suspects were initially charged for the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre, which claimed the lives of 58 people, including 32 media practitioners.

The media were supposed to cover the filing of the certificate of candidacy of then-Buluan vice mayor and now Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu. Their convoy, which was led by Mangudadatu’s wife, was stopped and killed by more than 100 armed men.

Members of the Ampatuan clan, who were tagged as masterminds of the massacre, denied involvement in the incident.