Duterte to meet with kin of Maguindanao massacre victims

President Rodrigo Duterte will meet with relatives of the Maguindanao massacre Thursday afternoon, coinciding with the 8th anniversary of the bloodbath, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.

“Oo nga pala, darating yung mga victims ng Maguindanao massacre today [Thursday] dahil commemoration ngayon ng Maguindanao massacre and they will meet with the President,” Roque told the media during his scheduled MRT ride Thursday morning.

“Ito ang unang-unang pagkakataon na makikipagpulong si Presidente sa mga pamilya ng mga biktima.” 

Some 16 families of the victims of the gruesome Maguindanao massacre will meet with Duterte, said Roque, who has recently been appointed also as presidential adviser on human rights.

It’s been eight years since the Maguindanao massacre that left 58 people dead, including 32 journalists.

Roque served as the lawyer of relatives of media members killed in the November 2009 incident.

Meanwhile, in an update on the cases of those linked to the massacre, the Supreme Court last Wednesday reported that around a third of the 103 accused who remain on trial have already finished presenting their evidence.

As of November 21, 2017, according to the briefer provided by the SC Public Information Office, only 103 remain on trial among the 115 people arrested over the carnage.

The prosecution has already rested its case against all of the accused, except for former Datu Unsay, Maguindanao mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., the alleged mastermind of the November 23, 2009 bloodbath. —LBG, GMA News