Aquino backs clamor for live coverage of Ampatuan trial

President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III on Wednesday added his voice to the growing clamor for the Supreme Court to allow live media coverage of the hearings on the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre. "It will be educational for the rest of the people to find out what transpired, how did and when did the possibility come from to have produced such an atrocity and what steps should be done to prevent the same from happening again," Aquino told Palace reporters. "The more people who are participants in the learning and the acting phase wherein we correct the situation, the faster and the greater the chances of not having a repeat of the same," he added. Aquino also asserted that the live coverage "would be a helpful direction in the sense that... if we do not learn the lessons of the past, we are condemned to repeat the same." Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Malacañang will send a formal letter to the Supreme Court informing them about the president's opinion on the matter.
De Lima favors live coverage Also on Wednesday, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said she is personally in favor of having live coverage of the multiple murder trial. However, De Lima says this may have its disadvantages as well. "The downside is, there is a rule of exclusion. Witnesses who are set to testify must be excluded [from the hearing while another witness is testifying]. How can you implement the rule of exclusion if the witness can see on television the testimony of the preceding witness?" she said. She added that live coverage may also give defense or prosecution lawyers an opportunity for grandstanding to the public. Review of SC ruling Earlier, families of the victims of the Maguindanao massacre along with media groups urged the Supreme Court to review the ruling that bars the live media coverage of the multiple murder trial. According to the relatives of the 57 people killed in the November 23, 2009 massacre, they will file their formal petition questioning the SC ruling on Thursday, November 18. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) are also set to ask the SC on Thursday to overturn the ruling that bars live coverage of court trials. Senator Francis Pangilinan, a political ally of Aquino, has also filed Senate Resolution 186, seeking the sense of the Senate that the court proceedings of the multiple murder trial should be made public through live radio and television coverage. Jurisprudence The Supreme Court order bans cellular phones, cameras, laptop computers, and even simple recording devices inside the make-shift court room at Camp Bagong Diwa City in Taguig City where the hearings on the cases against the massacre suspects are being heard. The SC issued this jurisprudence or "Administrative Matter" (A.M.) barring live media coverage of trials: A.M. No. 01-04-03-SC Re: Request for Radio-TV Coverage of the Trial in the Sandiganbayan of the Plunder Cases against Former Pres. Joseph E. Estrada, Secretary of Justice Hernando Perez, Kapisanan ng Mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, et al. v. Joseph E. Estrada and Integrated Bar of the Philippines; June 29, 2001, September 13, 2001, and March 14, 2006. "Unlike other government offices, courts do not express the popular will of the people in any sense which, instead, are tasked to only adjudicate justiciable controversies on the basis of what alone is submitted before them. A trial is not a free trade of ideas, Nor is a competing market of thoughts the known test of truth in a courtroom," the SC said in the jurisprudence. "The Court is not all that unmindful of recent technological and scientific advances but to chance forthwith the life or liberty of any person in a hasty bid to use and apply them, even before ample safety nets are provided and the concerns heretofore expressed are aptly addressed, is a price too high to pay," the SC added. 'List of appeals' Aquino said the request to allow live media coverage inside the court will be added to the "list" of appeals the Palace has made to the Supreme Court. "Isasama natin sa listahan ng mga inapila na natin sa kanila (We'll include it in the list of the appeals we have already made)," said the president. Aquino had previously asked the Supreme Court to exercise judicial prudence in its decisions, particularly after the high court issued a status quo ante order in response to the petition of National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) commissioner and secretary Bai Omera Dianalan-Lucman against Executive Order No. 2 revoking "midnight" appointments. Maguindanao massacre The Maguindanao massacre, also known as the Ampatuan massacre, occurred on November 23, 2009 in Ampatuan town in Mindanao's Maguindanao province. Relatives of Esmael Mangudadatu were on their way to file his certificate of candidacy for Maguindanao governor when they were ambushed and killed in a hilly area. Mangudadatu, the vice-mayor of Buluan town at the time of the massacre, eventually won the gubernatorial race in the May 10, 2010 polls. The 57 people who were killed and buried in a mass grave in Ampatuan town included Mangudadatu's wife, his two sisters, as well as journalists, lawyers, aides, and motorists who were witnesses or were mistakenly identified as part of the convoy. — with Sophia Dedace/RSJ/VVP/JV, GMANews.TV