CA junks Ampatuan scion's bid to quash multiple murder raps

Another member of the powerful Ampatuan clan has lost his bid to void the multiple murder charges the Department of Justice filed against him in connection with the gruesome Maguindanao massacre in November 2009. In an 18-page decision promulgated Friday, the Court of Appeals' Sixteenth Division junked Anwar Ampatuan's petition challenging the validity of former Justice secretary Alberto Agra's resolution that found probable cause to indict him for the massacre that killed 57 people. The CA also denied Anwar's petition to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) to block the enforcement of Agra's resolutions issued April 16 and May 5 of last year that said Anwar should be held for trial. Anwar wanted the CA to exclude him from the list of the accused in the Maguindanao massacre case, which is being handled by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221. "We have subjected the records of this case to a careful scrutiny and we find no grave abuse of discretion that may be imputed to public respondent Secretary of Justice," said the CA's decision written by Associate Justice Angelita Dagcutan. Associate Justices Francisco Acosta and Vicente Veloso gave their concurrences. Just last Wednesday, the same CA division junked the petition of former Mamapasapano, Maguindanao mayor Datu Akmad "Tato" Ampatuan Sr. to quash the murder charges against him. Last month, the CA's 11th Division likewise junked clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr.'s motion for reconsideration on a ruling that upheld the DOJ's finding of probable cause against him. Andal Sr. is among the principal suspects in the massacre; the other being his supposed favorite son, Andal Ampatuan Jr. For his part, suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Zaldy Ampatuan's petition opposing the DOJ's resolution against him is still pending before the appellate court. Anwar's case In his petition for certiorari at the DOJ, Anwar said Agra's May 5 resolution should be overturned because the former Justice secretary committed grave abuse of discretion in finding probable cause to file multiple murder charges against him. He also asked the CA to examine the evidence linking him to the Maguindanao massacre. However, the appellate court ruled in Agra's favor and said that the former Justice secretary did not err in including Anwar among the accused. The CA also said that it cannot heed the request because the evaluation of evidence is not yet within its jurisdiction. "This cannot be done as the sole office of the writ of certiorari is the correction of errors of jurisdiction and does not include a review of public respondent's evaluation of the evidence and factual findings," said the appellate court. It added that it cannot nullify Agra's resolution after finding that no grave abuse of discretion was committed. "The only instance where this Court could interfere with the findings of the Secretary of Justice is when his resolution is tainted with grave abuse of discretion," it said. — LBG, GMA News