Maguindanao massacre victim's kin, NUJP exec face contempt threat from CA

(Updated 8:15 p.m.) The Court of Appeals has ordered the widow of one of the victims in the gruesome Maguindanao massacre and an officer of a media group to explain why they should not be held in contempt for publicly criticizing CA justices handling the case of a high-profile suspect. In a resolution penned by Associate Justice Danton Bueser, the CA’s Special Eleventh Division gave Monette Salaysay and Rowena Paraan five days to submit their explanation. Salaysay is the widow of Mindanao Gazette publisher and editor Napoleon Salaysay, one of the 57 people killed in the Nov. 2009 massacre, while Paraan is the director of the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP). The CA said Salaysay and Paraan abused their freedom of expression because the petition of suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Zaldy Ampatuan, who is implicated in the crime, was still pending. Under Rule 71 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, courts have the power to cite in indirect contempt people or parties to a case who commit “any improper conduct tending, directly or indirectly, to impede, obstruct, or degrade the administration of justice." Romel Bagares, one of the legal counsels representing the families of the slain journalists, refused to comment on the CA order, saying he has yet to receive a copy of the order. Paraan likewise said she has yet obtained a copy of the order since she is currently out of the country. Bagares said their camp is actually planning on filing a petition before the Supreme Court seeking for an ethics investigation into the alleged bribery of the justices. "The SC should look at all these things and determine whoever should be investigated," he told GMA News Online in a phone interview. The CA Eleventh Division is handling Zaldy’s petition seeking to quash the multiple murder charges that the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed against him before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221. The camp of the massacre victims are seeking the inhibition of CA justices Danton Bueser and Marlene Gonzales-Sison from Zaldy’s case, saying the two magistrates should be consistent because they had inhibited themselves from handling the separate petition filed by Zaldy’s father, Andal Ampatuan Sr., also an accused in the massacre case. Last March 2, relatives of the massacre victims and NUJP members picketed the CA building in Manila. In their protest, Salaysay was quoted as saying that CA justices may have received bribes in exchange for a favorable ruling for Zaldy. “Hindi ako maniniwala na wala itong kapalit. Pera na naman, pera! (I will not believe this is in exchange for nothing. Money again, money!)," an emotional Salaysay had said. Zaldy’s camp had already denied resorting to bribery to get a favorable ruling. For her part, Paraan was quoted as saying that Bueser and Gonzales should have inhibited themselves from handling Zaldy’s case. “Why are they inconsistent? The massacre was a conspiracy. There were witnesses who testified that Zaldy was among those who planned and tried to cover-up the massacre," Paraan said. - with Mark D. Merueñas/KBK, GMA News