SC junks move objecting transfer of Ampatuan trial to Taguig

The multiple murder hearings on the Ampatuan massacre will push through on Wednesday, after the Supreme Court junked Taguig Mayor Freddie Tiñga's motion for reconsideration opposing the transfer of the suspects from Quezon City to Camp Bagong Diwa. In a resolution released on Tuesday in Baguio City, the Supreme Court branded as a mere "speculation" Tiñga's fears that the transfer of trial to Bicutan would pose security threats to surrounding schools and communities, a radio dzBB report said. Quezon City Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes is set to arraign 196 suspects who are being held for their supposed involvement in the November 23 mass slaughter in Ampatuan town. Last April 13, the Supreme Court ordered that the trial venue for the multiple murder hearing be transferred from the Philippine National Police headquarters at Camp Crame in Quezon City to the Metro Manila police headquarters in Camp Bagong Diwa. As a result of the SC ruling, all suspects in the massacre, including six members of the Ampatuan clan and more than 50 implicated policemen, were all brought to one detention facility inside the camp. Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., prime suspect in the carnage, was brought to Camp Bagong Diwa from the National Bureau of Investigation headquarters in Manila on April 15. The next day, his father Andal Sr., and his other relatives were flown in to the same detention facility from Mindanao. On April 16, a total of 47 police officers linked to the crime were also transfered from Camp Crame's Custodial Center. Tiñga, in expressing his objection to the court order, said there was "clear and present danger" in the transfer because district jail was near the University of Taguig and about 200 meters away from Maharlika village, the biggest Muslim community in the country outside of Mindanao. — Mark Merueñas/RSJ/LBG, GMANews.TV