Prosecutor handling Ampatuan case dies of heart attack

Senior State Prosecutor Leo Dacera, one of the government prosecutors handling the high-profile Maguindanao massacre case, died of a heart attack Thursday morning, officials said. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima confirmed the death of Dacera, Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon said in a text message to GMANews.TV. Dacera handled the Witness Protection Program of the Department of Justice. He also formed part of the prosecuting panel, which is headed by Fadullon, handling the multiple murder case against members of the Ampatuan clan. The Ampatuans allegedly ordered the killing of members of the rival Mangudadatu clan, their supporters, and journalists last Nov. 23, 2009. The bloodbath is dubbed as the worst incident of political violence in the country. In a statement, executive director Red Batario of the Center for Community Journalism and Development described the death of Dacera at 4 a.m. Thursday as "a devastating blow" to the pursuit of justice for the 57 victims of the massacre. "We mourn the loss of a dear friend and pillar of hope for surviving kin and witnesses to some of the most gruesome murders of Filipino journalists," said Batario, whose group has been assisting the families of 32 media people killed in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao. "Whether it was to surreptitiously spirit out a threatened witness from a troubled place in Mindanao to a safe house in Manila or consulting with journalists and media organizations on how to pursue cases of media murders, Leo Dacera had always demonstrated grace under pressure," Batario said. — RSJ/HS/YA, GMANews.TV