EDITORIAL – One month more to the Maguindanao massacre decision

Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes has asked for a month’s extension before she hands down the decision in the Maguindanao massacre case, and the Supreme Court has given her until December 20 to do so.

It has been almost 10 years since the November 23, 2009 massacre of 58 people, including journalists covering the filing by proxy of the candidacy of then-Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu. Mangudadatu planned to run against Andal Ampatuan Jr.

The convoy of Mangudadatu supporters and journalists was stopped by armed men who then shot and hacked them to death before attempting to bury their bodies in a mass grave. It is the worst case of election-related violence this country has ever seen.

But even with the savagery and scale of the incident, it seemed the courts were in no particular hurry to give justice to the aggrieved, and the dilatory tactics by the defense only added to the delay of the case, the hearings of which only terminated last June.

The family and friend of the massacre victims have been waiting for almost 10 years to get justice in the case, what’s one more month to wait, right?

However, given how justice works in this country, how only the poor seem to get the full brunt of the law while the rich get a slap in the wrist, it cannot be avoided that some people may see something sinister in the delay.

After all, evidence against a former first lady “disappeared” from court records. An infamous convicted rapist and murder was almost released from jail due to “good conduct,” causing a national ruckus. Ordinary pushers are offered no mercy in the streets, while suspected drug lords are granted an audience with the president.

But it may also be that the court is just making sure it renders the right decision considering all evidence at hand, it might even be double-checking and triple-checking. And considering that lower courts usually go on break mid-December, there is a chance the decision might be out even earlier than the deadline.

Whatever the decision is, it has been too long in coming, and we all know how that saying about justice delayed goes.