Andal lawyer says he will not cross examine victims' kin

The lawyer of Maguindanao massacre prime suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr. on Wednesday promised the court that he would go easy on the relatives of the 57 people his client allegedly ordered killed when they take on the witness stand. “I will waive my [right for] cross examination on matters that will cause their pain," Sigfrid Fortun, who is facing a disbarment case before the Supreme Court for allegedly employing delaying tactics during the trial, told Quezon City Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes during Wednesday’s hearing. This was after the prosecution told Judge Solis-Reyes that they would be presenting not more than 15 relatives of the victims when the civil aspect of the case is tackled later on. Fortun said unless he sees the need for it, he would be refraining from conducting a cross examination especially when the topic would be too sensitive and could cause the relatives to turn emotional. He noted that the relatives “will be testifying about personal matters, and not about the criminal aspect of the case." “[So] I will not cross [examine] on pain," he said. Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon said while they would be submitting affidavits from relatives of all 57 victims, they wanted to limit the number of those who would be taking the witness stand to speed up the proceedings. Defense lawyers representing the 15 accused on trial all agreed to the prosecution's suggestion to limit the number of testimonies, and Fortun even told the court that the hearing might be expedited even more because he would no longer be cross examining the relatives. Tears, walkouts On several occasions, relatives of the victims were seen bursting into tears during the trial whenever proceedings would encounter delays due to deferment or when witnesses recounted gory details of the assault on the convoy of the victims on the fateful day of November 23, 2009. During bail hearings in January, emotional relatives were seen walking out of the court room when video footage of the retrieval of the remains of the victims was shown in court. Myrna Reblando, widow of slain journalist Bong Reblando, voiced suspicion that Fortun did not make the offer of waiving cross examination out of goodwill. She said Fortun probably does not want to cross examine relatives because he does not want to hear stories about how gruesome the killings had been. Reblando challenged Fortun to subject her under cross examination. “Para maparamdam ko sa kanya kung ano ang nararamdaman namin (so he could feel how we felt about our relatives being killed)," she said. Idol She said Fortun was her “idol" when the latter stood as the legal counsel for former President Joseph “Erap" Estrada, who was convicted for plunder in 2007. “Sa amin kasi sa Mindanao, maka-Erap kami kaya kami gustung-gusto namin si Fortun (Most of us in Mindanao are pro-Erap so we liked Fortun)," she said. Unlike Reblando, Editha Tiamzon, widow of UNTV’s Daniel Tiamzon, was hesitant to take the witness stand. She, however, welcomed Fortun’s gesture, but added that she does not want to be included in the 15 relatives who would be chosen to testify. “Ayaw ko. Baka kapag umupo ako diyan, mabato ko lang sila (I don't want to testify in court. I might just hurt the suspects)," she said. - KBK, GMANews.TV