Ampatuan Sr asks court to defer pre-trial on massacre case

More than nine months after the November 23 bloodbath in Maguindanao province, the patriarch of the family linked to the carnage has asked the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 to postpone the multiple murder case’s pre-trial scheduled on September 1. In a motion, defense counsel Philip Sigfrid Fortun said a pre-trial is premature because his client, Andal Ampatuan Sr., and several other accused have yet to be arraigned. He said Presiding Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes still has to resolve motions pending before her sala. “As of the date of the filing of this pleading, no pre-trial order had been received by the undersigned (Fortun), no review thereof by them had been made, and accused (Ampatuan Sr.) had not signed the confirmed copy yet contrary to the Rules (of court) which further renders the setting, rash," said the lawyer. “Various incidents that affect the qualification of potential prosecution witnesses and accused’s position thereon are all pending, making the resumption of trial premature," he added. The lawyer is also asking the court to suspend subsequent hearings scheduled September 8 and 15. “Wherefore, for the reasons set forth above, the resumption of trial in these cases as scheduled on September 1, 8, and 15 at 9 a.m. will be overhasty and inopportune justifying their cancellation until after the foreign grounds are addressed," said Fortun. Ampatuan Sr., a former governor of Maguindanao, and his son, former Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., are tagged as principal suspects in the multiple murder case. Other members of the influential clan and their private militiamen also stand accused in the carnage. Fifty-seven people — 32 of them media workers — were killed in last year’s massacre in the town named after the clan. Delaying tactics? Government prosecutors, on the other hand, said they would contest the defense’s move, noting that the pre-trial set by Judge Reyes are for those who have already been arraigned. On Sunday, State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera said the prosecution panel would file its opposition within the week because the court already issued the pre-trial order even before the defense moved to have the pre-trial deferred. “The pre-trial was already set on September 1, and the pre-trial order was issued last Friday. We don’t see any reason why it should be delayed any longer," said Navera. Not guilty Last July 28, Andal Jr. pleaded not guilty to the 57th murder charge slapped against him. Sixteen other accused — including supposed aides of the Ampatuan clan as well as policemen formerly assigned in the province — entered a plea of not guilty to the 57th count of murder. The suspects were previously charged only with the murder of 56 people because the identity of UNTV anchor Victor Nuñez was not yet verified at the time the charges were filed. At least 196 individuals are listed on the multiple murder case’s charge sheet. Of the accused, only 62 are detained in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, including Andal Amptuan Sr. and Andal Jr. Suspect arrested In a related development, Philippine National Police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. on Sunday said a suspected member of the Ampatuans’ private army was arrested in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao. In a text message, Cruz said that at about 10 a.m. Sunday, Mohamad Datumanong was nabbed by joint operatives from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM-CIDG) and the military’s 38th Infantry Battalion. Cruz said Datumanong, which has a P250,000 bounty for his capture, was undergoing a CAFGU (Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit) training using a fictitious name. He brought to the ARMM-CIDG “for proper disposition," said Cruz. - KBK, GMANews.TV