De Lima: DOJ exec to monitor Ampatuan trial prosecutors

On the eve of the first year anniversary of the November 23 Ampatuan massacre, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said she will assign a department undersecretary to oversee the work of prosecutors in the case. On Monday, De Lima told reporters the Department of Justice (DOJ) undersecretary will make sure that both the public and private prosecutors in the case are doing their jobs. DOJ state prosecutors led by Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Richard Fadullon compose the public prosecution panel. The private prosecutors are composed of counsels of the victims' relatives. With the extraordinary number of suspects in the case, there is also an extraordinary number of prosecutors. "I am going to assign a supervising undersecretary to closely monitor the developments and proceedings," De Lima said. In the prosecution panel, there are the public prosecutors. We [DOJ] have supervision and control. But there are the private prosecutors. The supervising undersecretary is there to make sure everybody does his or her job," she added. De Lima said the undersecretary will "address the dynamics between the public and private prosecutors." Better coordination When De Lima assumed her post in July, she noted the need for better coordination between public and private prosecutors. Her statement stemmed from law professor Harry Roque's accusations that former Justice Secretary Alberto Agra and the public prosecutors failed to look after witness Suwaib Upham (alias "Jesse"), who was killed in Maguindanao in June. Upham had confessed to being one of the gunmen who carried out the massacre. Roque represents the families of 14 of the 57 victims. Lawyer Nena Santos, meanwhile, is the counsel for Maguindanao Governor Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu, who lost his wife and relatives in the massacre. The massacre On November 23 last year, the Mangudadatu convoy — composed of Esmael's wife, sisters, and other relatives, as well as lawyers and journalists — were supposed to register Esmael's gubernatorial candidacy. However, before the convoy reached the provincial capital of Shariff Aguak, the convoy was waylaid by more than a hundred armed men believed to be members of the Ampatuan clan's private army. Fifty-seven people were killed in the bloodbath, said to be the worst incident of political violence in the country. First anniversary Journalists and other groups are set to commemorate the massacre's first anniversary on Tuesday in Maguindanao. On Sunday, an improvised explosive device went off at Shariff Aguak, prompting De Lima to say that the blast could have been a threat to scare off those who want to mark the first year after the massacre. On Monday, De Lima said the "strongest theory" of local police investigators was to threaten those who will commemorate the massacre. "I have talked to certain PNP officers yesterday. Their strongest theory is that it has something to do with tomorrow's events. Of course, it's just a theory because there will still be an investigation," said De Lima. – VVP, GMANews.TV