Steel bars fortify security inside court hearing Ampatuan case

As an added security measure, authorities guarding the Maguindanao massacre trial have set up steel bars inside the makeshift court room in Taguig City to separate the accused from the legal counsels and the judge hearing the case. Private prosecutor Nena Santos, legal counsel for Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, said the decision to put the bars was agreed upon by the agencies securing the area inside Camp Bagong Diwa, including the National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, the Philippine National Police, and the Supreme Court. The steels bars serve as a wall that divides the court room into two sections: one for Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes and prosecution and defense lawyers, and the other for the suspects, relatives of the victims, and members of the media. Santos said the steel bars were placed because the detained suspects — accused of killing 57 people in Maguindanao on November 23, 2009 — are considered "high-risk detainees." "We have been receiving reports that some suspects might hold hostage people who they can clutch while the trial is ongoing," Santos said. The prosecution earlier claimed receiving information that some of the detained suspects were planning to disrupt the proceedings last April, prompting authorities to beef up security and deploy additional personnel at the venue. The suspects, who are facing 57 counts of murder, include prominent members of the Ampatuan clan. Only one of them, Andal Jr., has been arraigned so far. More than 100 other suspects — allegedly members of the clan's private army — remain at large while 90 are currently detained. - KBK, GMA News