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Massacre suspect Sajid Ampatuan released on P11.6-M bond


(UPDATED 5:33 p.m.)  After posting a surety bond of P11.6 million, Andal Ampatuan Sr.'s son Sajid has been ordered temporarily released by a Quezon City court - a first in the five-year trial.
 
In an order issued on Monday, Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the QC RTC Branch 221 said Sajid's bail request was "in order" and ordered the Quezon City Jail Annex in Taguig City to free the murder suspect.
 
"Accused Datu Sajid Islam Ampatuan, having posted the recommended bail of P200,000 each or in total of P11.6 million in the 58 cases undertaken by Travellers Insurance and Surety Corp... which the court finds in order, the same is hereby approved and he is allowed to be on temporary liberty upon the same bond," said Solis-Reyes.
 
Solis-Reyes issued the release order after denying the partial motion for reconsideration earlier filed by the prosecution to contest an order by the court granting Sajid's bail request.
 
Sajid filed his surety bond last January 30, but the judge "held in abeyance" acting on it pending the resolution of the prosecution's partial MR.
 
The judge said the QC Jail Annex "is hereby directed to immediately release accused Datu Sajid Islam Ampatuan from detention unless he is being held for some other lawful cause/s."
 
In a separate order, Solis-Reyes also granted the prosecution's request for the issuance of a hold departure order against Sajid.
 
"Aghast"
 
One private prosecutor in the massacre case expressed concern over the development.
 
"We are aghast and alarmed that an Ampatuan is released a year and two months before elections. We will continue to work for his conviction," lawyer Harry Roque told GMA News Online.
 
Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said she has given instructions to the public prosecutors to take the appropriate steps to address the situation.
 
"I already gave instructions to the panel thru Prosecutor General Claro Arellano to avail of the proper remedy asap," De Lima said in a text message.
 
Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo expressed disbelief that Solis-Reyes granted bail to Ampatuan.
 
"The strength of evidence has been the reason for the continued detention of the main suspects in the Maguindanao massacre. That is why it is quite bewildering that the Judge has allowed one of the suspects to post bail,"  Castelo said.
 
"We have to provoke the public to stay vigilant. Public pressures are important to keep the issue alive," he added.
 
Prosecution MR
 
In its motion for reconsideration, the MR had argued Sajid should not be allowed to post bail because he allegedly played a "major role" when he attended meetings to carry out the killings.
 
Sajid's "silence" when a provincial backhoe was used to bury the victims' remains and a local police force was deployed to block the victims' convoy can be "interpreted to mean he assented to the commission of the crimes.
 
At the time of the massacre in November 2009, Sajid was supposedly the provincial officer-in-charge-governor, according to the prosecution. 
 
Sajid, however, had insisted that he only served as OIC from January to October 2009. After that, his father assumed governorship in the province.
 
In denying the prosecution's MR, Judge Solis-Reyes said the mere presence of Sajid during the meetings does not "ipso facto translate to a conclusion of a strong evidence of guilt.
 
"The judge also said the prosecution failed to state any legal basis on its claim that silence, during the conduct of a meeting of a conspiracy, already means assent to the commission of the crime."
 
At this point, the court cannot latch on a finding of a strong evidence of guilt on the part of the accused merely because he occupied the position of OIC-Governor of Maguindanao," said Solis-Reyes.
 
"The Court still finds in its exercise of sound discretion that the totality of the circumstances above fails to reach the threshold of strong evidence of guilt of the said accused in connection with the alleged crimes," she added.
 
The Quezon CIty judge also reminded the parties that her grant of the bail applications of Sajid "is not determinative of the outcome of his trial. The parties are yet to demonstrate in the trial proper whether the accused is guilty or innocent of the crimes."
 
Other bail petitions granted
 
In an October 13, 2014 resolution, Solis-Reyes allowed 17 suspects to post a bail of P200,000 for every count of murder against them. That would translate to 11.6 million for all 58 counts. 
 
Two weeks later, on October 27, Solis-Reyes issued another ruling granting the bail pleas of 25 more policemen-suspects, also setting a similar bail requirement.
 
One of the 42 suspects allowed to post bail, however, died in 2012 after jumping off the building where his detention cell was located.
 
Another suspect, PO2 Saudiar Ulah, earlier requested that the bail requirement for his temporary freedom be reduced due to his "financial inability."  — NB/RSJ/ELR, GMA News

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