Andal Jr: Allah knows I’m innocent

Andal Ampatuan Jr., the primary suspect in the Nov. 23 massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao province, faced the media Tuesday and denied the accusations against him. He also appealed to the government and the court hearing his multiple murder case to give him a fair trial. “Isa lang ang hinihiling ko, fair trial lang. Alam ko 100 percent mananalo ako kung bibigyan lang ako ng fair trial. Ito ang hinihiling ko sa gobyerno at sa humahawak ng kaso ko," Andal Jr. told reporters from his detention cell at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) headquarters. (I’ve one wish and that is for the government and the court to give me a fair trial. I’m 100 percent confident I will win the case if only I’ll be given a fair trial.) He said Allah, the supreme deity in the Islamic faith, knows he’s innocent and would help him get over his ordeal. “Basta, isa lang ang masasabi ko, gusto ko fair trial, tutulungan ako ni Allah (All I know is Allah will help me get a fair trial)," he said. Andal Jr., mayor of Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao and scion of a powerful political clan, also urged the real culprits in the massacre to come out so that he could clear his name. “Napagbintangan lang ko dito. Wala akong kasalanan. Lumabas na dapat ang may kasalanan (I was wrongly accused. I’m innocent. I hope the killers will come out)," he said. Andal Jr. has pleaded not guilty in the multiple murder charges filed against him. All throughout the short interview, Andal Jr. answered in Filipino, betraying his lawyers’ claim during last week’s arraignment that he only knows Maguindanaoan dialect. Prosecutors said the defense was resorting to delaying tactics. Andal Jr. invited journalists to his detention cell to prove that he isn’t being given special treatment, but NBI officials only allowed them as far as the visitors’ area due to security reasons. A steel fence separated the suspect from the journalists. Asked on how he is feeling behind bars, Andal Jr. said, “normal lang," adding that he prays five times a day. A hearing on Andal Jr.’s case is set in Camp Crame on Wednesday. The case is being handled by Quezon City Regional Trial Court branch 221 under Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes. - KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV