Court resets hearing on transfer of detention of Andal Sr., others

Detained former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. and other clan members facing rebellion charges will have to stay in their detention cells in southern Philippines a little longer. On Friday, a Quezon City trial court hearing the Ampatuan clan's motion to defer the transfer of detention was reset to February 9, according to a GMA Flash Report.

Philip Sigfrid Fortun, the Ampatuan clan's lead counsel, earlier asked Judge Vivencio Baclig, the presiding judge of QC Regional Trial Court Branch 77, not to allow authorities to transfer Andal Sr. and and his co-accused to a detention cell in Metro Manila. Fortun argued that the court could not make any ruling on the transfer of detention just yet since it has yet to act on an earlier motion by the Ampatuan camp to first determine probable cause against them. In Friday's hearing, Fortun once more stressed that it would be "premature" to tackle the transfer of detention petition since the court still has no jurisdiction over the clan patriarch and his co-accused, prompting Baclig to move the hearing to next week. Meanwhile, the Ampatuan camp also said the court should cite the prosecution in contempt for failing to attend a hearing at the Cotabato City Regional Trial Court last January 7. The prosecution maintained that it failed to send its counsels to the proceedings because it did not receive any notice of hearing. The rebellion charges against the Ampatuans were originally filed in Cotabato City last December, but due to security concerns in the area - a known turf of the powerful clan - the Supreme Court last January 12 ordered that the trial be transferred to Metro Manila. Aside from Andal Sr., other primary accused in the case are four other members of the powerful clan including the patriarch's son, suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan, Maguindanao Vice Gov. Datu Akmad Tato Ampatuan, Shariff Aguak Mayor Datu Anwar Ampatuan and Datu Sajid Islam Ampatuan. Andal Sr. is detained at the Camp Panacan Hospital in Davao City while Zaldy Ampatuan is detained at Camp Lira in General Santos City. The other Ampatuans are detained at Camp Siongco in Maguindanao. Andal Sr.'s son, Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr - who is the prime suspect in the grisly November 23 massacre - is currently detained at the National Bureau of Investigation headquarters in Manila, due to charges of 56 counts of murder, to which he had already pleaded not guilty. - Mark Merueñas/RSJ/LBG, GMANews.TV