This is taking too long, arraign me now – massacre suspect

A suspect in the Ampatuan massacre in Maguindanao last year apparently can no longer stand the "dragging" pace of his multiple murder case and has asked the Quezon City court trying the case to finally arraign him. In a manifestation sent to the Regional Trial Court Branch 221 in Quezon City last Monday, suspect Senior Police Officer 2 (SPO2) Badawi Bakal informed Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes that he would no longer pursue a motion for reconsideration he earlier filed in court. Bakal is the former officer-in-charge of the Ampatuan municipal police, where the mass killing of 57 people, including 32 journalists, with a 58th victim still missing, was carried out almost one and a half years ago. In the said earlier motion, Bakal asked the court to reconsider a February 2010 resolution of the Department of Justice, which recommended the filing of 57 counts of murder against him and 196 other individuals. However, in his latest manifestation, a copy of which was obtained by GMA News Online, Bakal said he "realized that his case will drag for so long if he will await the resolution of his motion for reconsideration." He then told the judge that he is now "submitting his person to the jurisdiction of the court," adding that he was “willing to be arraigned and henceforth abandon his motion for reconsideration." Bakal is among the more than 60 local police personnel from the Maguindanao Provincial Police and the ARMM Regional Police who were being tagged as among the culprits in the gruesome mass killing. The police officers have been suspended and are currently facing an administrative case before the National Police Commission, separate from the criminal case lodged against them. In the murder case, Bakal joins a long list of accused individuals that include prominent members of the powerful Ampatuan clan of Maguindanao and members of their supposed private army. So far, 89 of the 196 wanted individuals have already been arrested, and only around half of them have been arraigned - all of them have pleaded not guilty. The suspects now in police custody are detained either at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City or at Camp Crame in Quezon City. Prime suspects Andal Ampatuan Sr. – the clan patriarch – and his son and suspended ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan have yet to be arraigned, pending the resolution of their respective motions for reinvestigation filed before the Court of Appeals. Sen. Joker Arroyo earlier guessed that the murder trial could go on for at least two centuries due to the sheer number of accused individuals. Prosecutors in the case however disagreed, saying the twice-a-week schedule of day-long hearings is helping expedite the trial. —JV, GMA News