Defense grills soldier on multiple affidavits in Maguindanao trial

Defense lawyers in the Maguindanao massacre trial on Wednesday resumed their grilling of a soldier who claimed he was in the vicinity of the crime scene when the gruesome carnage happened. Legal counsel for the massacre suspects pointed out in open court that the witness, Corporal Zaldy Raymundo, had apparently executed three different affidavits about the incident. The first was done before Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) officials on November 26, 2009. The second was before the Army Inspector General on November 30, 2009, and the third was before the National Bureau of Investigation on December 2, 2009. Defense lawyer Abdulkalim Askali cited several points in Raymundo's testimony in court last week that were not in his various sworn statements, including his testimony that four vehicles drove up to the hilly portion where the crime happened. In his affidavits, Raymundo did not state how many vehicles he saw. During cross examination, Raymundo said he informed his commanding officer through text message about the four vehicles. Raymundo, who was stationed at a military detachment near the checkpoint where the massacre victims were flagged down, had earlier claimed hearing gunshots at the hilly portion of Barangay Salman before noon on November 23, 2009. On Wednesday, Raymundo said he relayed the information to his commanding officer — again by text message — that he heard gunshots. Produce cellphone However, when defense lawyers asked if he could produce his cellphone to show the series of messages he sent to his commanding officer, the witness claimed he was no longer in possession of his phone after it was misplaced in December 2009. In his earlier testimony, Raymundo claimed seeing a primemover — or semi-trailer truck — carrying a backhoe, drive up to the massacre site after the gunshots rang out. A member of the civilian volunteer organization posted at a checkpoint near the military outpost, where Raymundo was, allegedly instructed him to keep silent about what he had seen. “Sinabihan ako ng CVO na wala akong nakita, wala akong narinig. Kinabahan ako ng husto at takot na takot ako," Raymundo said. Motion for reconsideration In a related development, the prosecution asked Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes, the presiding judge, to reconsider her decision barring several suspects from turning state witnesses. Regional Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Medalle said in a motion for reconsideration filed on August 16 that the application for discharge of Police Inspectors Rex Ariel Diongon, Michael Macaraeg, PO1 Rainer Ebus and Mohammad Sangki were "proper and under the rule of jurisprudence." Medalle stressed that the mere inclusion of Sangki — a Sangguniang Bayan official in Datu Abdullah Sangki town in Maguindanao — in the Witness Protetcion Program discharges him as an accused. [See related: Prosecution still wants some Maguindanao massacre suspects to become state witnesses] "Thus the trial court has to rely on the information offered by the public prosecutor as to who would best qualify as a state witness," the prosecutor said. But in an August 2 ruling, Solis-Reyes said the four suspects' testimonies were merely "corroborative in nature." The presiding judge said an accused should only be made a state witness when there is "absolute necessity for the testimony... and when he alone has knowledge of the crime [and not] simply corroborate or otherwise strengthen the evidence." — ELR/VS, GMA News