Ampatuan lawyer: Prosecution delay might turn trial into a 'sham'

The counsels of the Ampatuans and other individuals accused of rebellion on Tuesday expressed fears that the trial might eventually turn into a "sham" if the prosecution continues to “break" its promises in court. Lawyer Sigfrid Fortun, legal counsel for the Ampatuans, sought postponement of Tuesday's hearing on the rebellion case against the Ampatuans and alleged armed civilians in Maguindanao. The defense lawyer made this move because the prosecution was late in handing over copies of the evidence to the defense. Earlier, the prosecution promised the court to hand over the said copies to the defense by Monday. However, the documents – which supposedly justified martial law enforcement in the southern Mindanao province from December 4 to 12 – was only furnished to the defense an hour after the scheduled hearing on Tuesday. The hearing was delayed because the prosecution still had to photocopy the documents. "This smacks of contempt because they disregarded orders of the honorable court," said Fortun, before being forced to move for the hearing’s postponement on Tuesday. "Commitments have been broken in the past and today. What will happen to this hearing is it will all be a sham," he added. Besides hitting the prosecution for the delay, the Ampatuan camp also slammed prosecutors for submitting an incomplete set of documents. Photographs of military operations, as earlier promised by the prosecution, failed to be included. These photographs depicted images of government troops confiscating high-powered firearms and ammunition from supposed Ampatuan properties, Lt. Gen. Raymundo B. Ferrer, chief of the Eastern Mindanao Command, said in an earlier hearing. The Ampatuans' lawyer said the prosecution seemed "unprepared" because it kept on appearing in court without the necessary documents. Last week, prosecution witness Ferrer, who administered martial law in Maguindanao, took the witness stand without bringing any written military reports to support his testimony in court. At that time, Judge Vivencio Baclig of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 77 rescheduled the hearing just so the prosecution could prepare the required documents. Among the documents submitted by the prosecution in court on Tuesday were: * an 18-page chronology of events leading up to the declaration of martial law in Maguindanao on December 4; * 22 pages of intelligence reports and graphical situation map of the province; * locations and strength of the alleged private armed groups of the Ampatuans; and * a breakdown of firearms recovered and/or confiscated in the province. AFP general: We'll pursue the case During Tuesday's hearing, prosecution lawyer Lamberto Fabros said their failure to complete the documentary evidence was not meant to "intentionally delay" the proceedings. The delay was only due to "time constraints," he said. Fabros said Ferrer only came to their office at 5 p.m. of Monday, not giving the prosecution enough time to reproduce the documents and have the defense pick them up. Fabros also said, "To tell you honestly, I don't even have a photocopying machine in my office," adding that he did not also have contact information of the defense lawyers. Fabros said he received the documents at a late hour that he did not even have time to review them. Likewise, he has not seen the pictures stored in the flash drive. In response, Fortun said: "How long does it take to photocopy? How long does it take to produce the photographs, to pick up the phone and tell us to pick up [the documents]," Fortun said. On Tuesday's hearing, the Ampatuan lawyer asked Judge Baclig to postpone the hearing to give both camps time to read the documents and photos submitted by Ferrer. The judge reset the hearing to February 22. Though Ferrer brought with him a flash drive that contained the photographs, the defense demanded that it be given hard copies. Asked why he turned over the documents to prosecution lawyers only late Monday, just a day before the resumption of the hearing, Ferrer said he was busy with "many activities." In court, Ferrer said he would in fact be as busy this week, attending several speaking engagements and fora in the next few days. But Ferrer allayed fears that the government might be going easy against the Ampatuan clan – a strong political ally of the administration until the November 23 massacre. Asked if the military was still bent on going after the Ampatuans for allegedly waging a rebellion against the government, Ferrer answered in the affirmative. "Yes, we definitely want to pursue the rebellion case against the Ampatuans," the military general assured as he left Camp Crame shortly after the hearing. Fabros shared Ferrer's sentiments by saying, "We are doing our very best to comply with the court." Ferrer vowed to attend February 22's hearing with the printed copies of the photographs, as requested by the defense. The hearing is being held to judicially determine if the Ampatuans and a number of armed civilians should be charged with rebellion in court, and to hear the defense's motion to defer the transfer of detention of the accused from Mindanao to Manila. Fortun is also the lawyer of another member of the Ampatuan clan, Datu Unsay mayor Andal Jr, who along with 196 others, is charged with multiple counts of murder over the bloody massacre of 57 people in Ampatuan town last November 23. - GMANews.TV