Ampatuan trial defendant wants prosecutors, PDI cited in contempt

An accused in the Ampatuan murder trial wants two private prosecutors and a major national daily newspaper to be cited in contempt over what he said were "snide remarks" and "false reports" about the proceedings. Datukan Malang Salibo also asked Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes to issue a temporary restraining order against lawyers Nena Santos and Harry Roque, as well as the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Salibo is alleged to be a member of the private army of the Ampatuan clan, some prominent members of which are co-accused in the multiple murder case. "Respondents should be eternally enjoined from giving interviews to the media about the conduct of the proceedings in the Maguindanao massacre cases," Salibo said in a 22-page complaint, adding that Santos and Roque violated the sub judice rule. The sub judice rule prevents parties from giving comments to the media on the merits of an ongoing case. The accused petitioner said he was making the request to "prevent respondents or agents from making [further] comments and snide remarks [and] from twisting the facts and writing false articles about the status of evidence and merits of the Maguindanao massacre cases." The complaint was filed Friday last week but Salibo's legal counsel Paris Real handed copies to reporters only on Wednesday, during the continuation of the murder trial at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 221. In his petition, Salibo said comments made in the media by the private lawyers also tended to "incite the emotions of the public to hate the Accused and the defense lawyers." "[Likewise, the comments tended] to incite the public to pre-judge the pending issues in the Maguindanao massacre cases before the klieg lights of cameras, TVs and other media outlets thereby putting the Accused thereat in a bad light." Salibo was pertaining to a February 10 article published in the Inquirer that quoted remarks given by private prosecutor Santos about defense lawyer Real's cross examination of expert witness Dr. Reynaldo Romero. In his cross examination, Real suggested that some of the 57 victims of the Ampatuan massacre could have died not due to bullet wounds but due to insect bites. The 57 massacre victims were killed on a grassy hilly portion of Sitio Masalay in Barangay Salman, Ampatuan town, Maguindanao province on November 23, 2009. In response, Santos said, as quoted in the Inquirer report: "Is he suggesting that the insects killed the victims... that the victims were alive when they were being excavated from the mass graves?" Santos also insisted that the victims were not in possession of any firearm before they were killed, since witnesses had already claimed that all the victims' belongings were taken away from them at a checkpoint prior to being brought to the massacre site. Salibo said Santos' reactions to his legal counsel's cross examination were "unfair, unfounded, unethical and contemptuous." As for Roque, Salibo said the lawyer violated the sub judice rule when he "whimsically handed out copies" of a separate pleading asking the Quezon City court to allow his clients to receive psycho-social assistance from the government. [See related: Maguindanao massacre victims’ kin seek psychosocial help] Salibo said that subsequent comments given by Roque to media to elaborate on the pleading he handed out were "unwarranted." Santos and Roque both declined to comment on the petition saying they both have to go over its contents yet. As for the Inquirer, Salibo said its report appeared to have subjected him and several defense lawyers to public humiliation, ridicule, and trial by publicity. The petitioner said that while he, as an accused, has the right to have a public trial, "a public trial is not to be equated with 'publicized trial,' one characterized by pervasive adverse publicity that violates the accused Constitutional rights to due process." Salibo added that he respected the freedom of the press, but his Constitutional right against undue publicity should be "given more weight." The accused stressed the paragraph, in the same Inquirer article, that described Real's cross examination of expert witness Dr. Reynaldo Romero as "another bizarre twist." Shortly after news about his cross examination spread, Real said he started reading comments about him that "publicly maligned him," including one message on social networking site Twitter that branded him as "baliw" (crazy). Salibo also pointed out the line: "Ano pa kaya? Baka kinulam [What else could it be? Maybe voodoo magic]?" that appeared on Inquirer’s carabao mascot (Guyito) that accompanied the article. "Salibo and his counsel do not practice encantations and black magic. Hence they will not and cannot subject anyone to 'Kulam' [voodoo magic] as the subject article wants to imply," the petition read. Salibo also claimed that his counsel, Real, never said that some of the victims’ wounds could have been caused by insect bites or that women's bodies recovered might have belonged to female assailants.—JV, GMA News