Duterte wants partial judgment in Maguindanao massacre cases

President Rodrigo Duterte has instructed government prosecutors to push for partial resolution of the cases in connection with the Maguindanao massacre trial, Malacañang said Tuesday.

Duterte's spokesperson, Harry Roque, said the President issued the directive when he "conferred" on the matter with the prosecution panel formed by the Department of Justice.

"The President has instructed the prosecution panel to do its best to get partial judgment against some of the accused within the year. And we hope to do that," Roque, a former private prosecutor in the cases, told reporters in Cotabato City.

The trial is now on its eighth year.

According to the briefer provided by the Supreme Court Public Information Office, only 103 remain on trial among the 115 persons arrested over the massacre as of November 21 last year.

The list of accused includes former Datu Unsay, Maguindanao mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., the alleged mastermind of the November 23, 2009 killings.

The Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 junked Ampatuan's bail petition on May 31, 2017 and his subsequent appeal on June 16, 2017.

Tagged as the worst case of election-related violence and worst case of media killing in Philippine history, the Maguindanao massacre involves the killing of 58 people, some of them family members of then-Buluan town vice mayor Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu.

Also among the victims were 32 journalists who were accompanying Mangudadatu's wife and supporters in filing his certificate of candidacy.

Mangudadatu was then about to go against Andal Ampatuan Jr. in the province's gubernatorial race in 2010.

Six other people who were not part of the convoy of vehicles carrying the Mangudadatus and the journalists were also killed as they happened to be in the area during the time of the attack. —JST, GMA News