Lawyer: Main suspects in Maguindanao massacre case will be convicted or else PHL press freedom is dead

The lawyer for the families of 38 of 58 victims of the infamous Maguindanao massacre on Tuesday said she is certain the main suspects in the 10-year-old case would be convicted. Otherwise, press freedom in the Philippines would be good as dead.

"If there will be no conviction, I am sorry to say that press freedom in the Philippines is dead," private prosecutor Nena Santos told reporters in Quezon City.

"Impunity," she said. "Because if nobody gets to jail for killing media people, where is democracy there, where is press freedom there?"

Fifty-eight people, 32 of whom were members of the media, were killed in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao, on November 23, 2009 in what is considered the Philippines' worst case of election-related violence and the single deadliest attack on journalists in history.

Nearly 10 years after the gruesome murder, the trial of more than a hundred people, including members of the powerful Ampatuan clan, has concluded. A decision on 104 of 197 accused is expected soon. Many are still at large.

"We are not sure of the 100% (conviction), but we are sure that the principal accused will be convicted," Santos said.

Trial lasted almost a decade because of moves by the defense, such as changes in lawyers, the filing of different motions, the intimidation and even killing of witnesses, the private prosecutor said.

But none of the major witnesses recanted their statements, which she considers a "high point" of the trial.

Sukarno Badal, a state witness, recently denied that he told Datu Andal "Unsay" Ampatuan, Jr. he wanted to take back his testimony, thwarting a sought retrial that would have once again prolonged the case.

Santos, herself, who represents the families of 15 Mangudadatus, two drivers, six passersby and 15 journalists who were killed, has received death threats and warded off bribe attempts and offers of power.

"I just have one focus, just handle the case to the best of my ability without any favor or without... falling into any offers of money, influence, position until this case is finally resolved," she said.

Aside from the 197 accused, the victims' families are running after 50 more suspects: politicians, policemen, security personnel, private army members whom witnesses identified during trial.

Santos said complaints against these individuals were filed in 2015 and are already up for resolution.

But even after Jocelyn Solis-Reyes, the Quezon City judge in charge of the case, reaches a decision on the first case, Santos said the witnesses' lives will not be the same.

"This is a life-changing event. Once they testify, they will forever be haunted by the Ampatuans and the other accused," she said. 

"They are not living a normal life. Once the witness became witnesses of this case, their lives are no longer normal. They are in constant danger and if there will be any other person whom we should take care of, [these] are the witnesses of this case."

She said they need financial assistance. — MDM, GMA News