Court orders 15 massacre suspects moved to separate jail

For reasons of security, a Quezon City court ordered the transfer of 15 policemen accused in the Ampatuan massacre to a separate detention facility also within Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, where they are now detained. In an omnibus resolution dated September 28, Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes issued the order upon the request of the prosecution, which claimed that some of the suspects were being "seriously threatened" by the detained members of the Ampatuan clan, who are among the co-accused in the multiple murder case. In their April 21 motion for transfer of detention, prosecution lawyers claimed that both clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his son, prime suspect Andal Jr., had threatened their co-accused SPO2 Badawi Bacal, officer-in-charge of the Datu Ampatuan municipal police, that an "untoward incident will befall him and his family" if he does not testify in favor of the powerful clan. The prosecution said the 15 police officers had already "intimated their intention to testify for the prosecution against their co-accused." It also accused officials of the jail facility of providing preferential treatment for the Ampatuans. The prosecution had originally asked for the transfer of the police officers to the Philippine National Police (PNP) national headquarters at Camp Crame in Quezon City, which the court denied. Instead, Judge Solis-Reyes ordered a transfer of jail facility still inside Camp Bagong Diwa, which is the National Capital Region Police Office’s (NCRPO) headquarters. The judge instructed Chief Inspector Ermilito Moral, officer in charge of the Quezon City Jail Annex at Camp Bagong Diwa, to move the men to the Security Intensive Area, still inside the police camp. The court said there appeared "no compelling reason to act on the prosecution's urgent motion" seeking to have the accused police officers transferred to Camp Crame. Among those ordered transferred to a separate jail facility were Bacal, Chief Inspector Sukarno Dicay, SPO1 Eduardo Ong, PO3 Rasid Anton, PO2 Hernanie Decipulo Jr., PO2 Saudiar Ulah, PO2 Saudi Pasutan, PO1 Herich Amaba, and PO1 Esprielito Lejarso. Switching In a separate letter to Solis-Reyes, Moral likewise asked for the transfer of detention of Dicay, who is already being considered to become a state witness. Moral said the police officer's safety is already at risk because some of his co-accused were already "allegedly switching their disposition in favor of the Ampatuan(s)." Moral did not identify who among the probable state witnesses were switching sides. But prosecution lawyer Nena Santos told GMANews.TV in an interview that Moral's request is already considered fait accompli since Solis-Reyes had already issued the transfer order. Recantation According to Santos, Andal Sr. and Andal Jr. were not the only ones threatening the policemen. She said even former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Zaldy Ampatuan, brother of Andal Jr. and also a co-accused, had attempted to win over the policemen planning to turn into state witnesses. "May nakuha kaming information na kinakausap ni Zaldy si Dicay kasi tetestigo siya laban kay Unsay [Andal Jr.]," Santos told GMANews.TV in an interview. (We received information that Zaldy is talking to Dicay because the latter is planning to testify against Andal Jr.) She said the Ampatuans had long been egging their co-accused policemen — mostly members of the 1508th Provincial Mobile Group — to take the side of the powerful clan in the court battle. Santos said such kind of threats pushed the prosecution to ask the court to move the accused policemen out of Camp Bagong Diwa. The court has set for October 27 the hearing for the prosecution's other request to drop the charges against four other suspects, namely Muhamad Sangki, PO1 Rainer Ebus, Inspector Rex Ariel Diongon, and Inspector Michael Joy Macaraeg - who are all being considered to become state witnesses. The Ampatuans and the policemen were charged with 57 counts of murder for the massacre of members of an electoral convoy led by the Ampatuans' rival clan, the Mangudadatus, at Sitio Masalay in Ampatuan town on November 23 last year. —JV, GMANews.TV