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Prosecutor wishes other massacre suspects would remain at large


A private prosecutor on Tuesday said it would be better if the more than 100 Maguindanao massacre suspects remain at large, at least for now, so the court could concentrate on the trial of the multiple murder case. Prosecutor Nena Santos made the statement out of frustration over persistent delays in the trial of the arrested suspects in the November 23, 2009 killings of at least 57 people in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao. "Kung puwede nga lang sana huwag nang mahuli [muna] ang iba. Mag-concentrate na lang muna sa mga on trial ngayon," Santos said. (If I'll have my way, I would prefer the fugitives would not be caught yet, so we can concentrate on the trial of those arrested so far.) Of the 196 people charged with 57 counts of murder, more than 80 have been arrested and most of them are detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City. Four of the suspected policemen, who might turn out as state witnesses, are detained at the Custodial Center at Camp Crame in Quezon City. Of those arrested, around 50 have been arraigned, 15 of them undergoing trial, including prime suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr, a former mayor of Datu Unsay town who is believed to have led a band of their armed supporters in staging the massacre at Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman. The number of suspects and complainants combined is so big, both the defense and prosecution camps have to enlist the help of several lawyers. On record, families of the victims are represented by 20 public and private prosecutors, while the 15 people undergoing trial have tapped the help of eight lawyers, led by Sigfrid Fortun. More defense lawyers are expected to join the trial as more suspects get arraigned. It's been almost three months since the trial proper for Andal Jr. and other arraigned suspects started, but the prosecution has so far presented only five of its 169 witnesses. The defense, meanwhile, is expected to present 320 witnesses. Arraignment for the 50 suspects happened in separate occasions and in different batches. Santos believed the process was part of "dilatory tactics" by the defense so that the case would drag "until the public forgets and loses interest in it." She said that during the last hearing on November 17, the 9 a.m. trial proper was pushed back for hours after the arraignment of two suspects was delayed. Suspects Macton Bilungan and Norman Taktak, who only spoke and understood Maguindanaoan, requested the court to wait for the arrival of a translator, who reached the court room past noon. The two pleaded not guilty. A week before that, 35 more suspects were supposed to have been arraigned, but the court ended up arraigning only 28 because the seven requested for a deferment due to the absence of their lawyers at the hearing. Santos, who represents Maguindanao Gov. Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu whose wife and sisters were among the victims of the massacre, said this "patsane-tsane" (bit by bit) manner of arraignment and a load of motions filed mostly by the defense panel have further delayed the trial. Around 130 motions have been filed before the sala of Quezon City Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Regional Trial Court Branch 221 since the proceedings began with a bail hearing for Andal Jr. in January. The motions had led to an indefinite suspension of the hearings. Most of the motions had already been resolved except for around 20, Santos said. Andal Jr. is so far the only member of the Ampatuan clan who has been arraigned. His father clan patriarch Andal Sr and brother, suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Zaldy, both have asked the Quezon City court and the Court of Appeals that their names be stricken out from the charge sheet. — LBG/KBK, GMANews.TV

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