Lawyer wants DOJ chief cited in contempt for ‘violating’ Andal Jr.’s rights

The legal counsel of Datu Unsay town Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. asked on Monday that Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera and eight others be made to explain why they should not be cited for contempt of court for taking his client out of his detention cell without a court order. In a motion filed before Presiding Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (QC RTC) Branch 221, Philip Sigfrid Fortun claimed that the rights of his client were violated when the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) brought Ampatuan Jr. from his cell to the Department of Justice (DOJ) office on December 18 for the preliminary investigation of the multiple murder case filed against him and his relatives, without a court order. Aside from Devanadera, Fortun also asked the court to cite in contempt Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño Jr., Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Richard Fadullon, Senior State Prosecutors Leo Dacera and Rosemarie Balauag, State Prosecutors Rosendell Gingayon and Xerxes Garcia, and lawyer Ricardo Diaz and Head Agent Roel Bolivar of NBI. “There was no lawful nor practical purpose in (Ampatuan’s) presence before the DOJ," Fortun said, because the Rules of Court do not oblige his client to appear at the preliminary investigation, and because he was not submitting his counter-affidavit on that date. Fortun added that NBI lawyer Diaz allegedly shoved aside Alfredo Marqueda – Ampatuan Jr.’s other counsel – and warned him not to interfere or accompany him in the van which was used to transfer the suspect. Fortun stated that the authorities “turned (Ampatuan) into a circus spectacle" by not allowing his client to put on street clothes. Instead, he said, his client was shackled, chained, and made to wear an oversized bulletproof vest. “They did not remove his cuffs and shackles during the hearing so that he could be feasted on by media and shown as a ‘trophy’ of his captors," Ampatuan's lawyer said. He claimed that the DOJ and NBI officers performed these acts “for no lawful purpose but to whet the media and the public’s appetite for a circus spectacle in gross disregard of the jurisdiction and authority of the court." In a separate petition, Fortun also asked the QC RTC to allow Ampatuan Jr. to post bail as there was no strong evidence against him. The petition was opposed by the prosecution led by Nena Santos, legal counsel of the Mangudadatus. Members of the influential Ampatuan clan are accused of masterminding the November 23 massacre in Maguindanao, where at least 57 people, including at least 30 journalists, died. Judge Reyes disclosed that Fortun’s petitions will be heard in January next year. – JMA/JV, GMANews.TV