Only 8 out of 48 more suspects in Maguindanao massacre indicted —lawyer

Prosecutors indicted only eight out of 48 more Maguindanao massacre suspects included in a second wave of complaints filed with the Department of Justice, a lawyer of the victims' families said on Monday.

Lawyer Nena Santos said two Ampatuans and six others were charged before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221, the same court that last year found a number of members of the influential Ampatuan clan and many police officers guilty of multiple murder over the 2009 massacre. 

In the second wave of complaints, the DOJ dismissed charges against 40 respondents. Santos expressed dismay at this development, saying only three paragraphs in the prosecutors' resolution explained the legal basis for the dismissal. 

"The fight is not yet over," Santos said Monday, adding that she feels the DOJ is no longer on their side. "Parang pinagbigyan lang ako sa walo, tapos inalis 'yung 40," she said.

"The struggles with the DOJ is far more huge sa ngayon compared sa una kasi nung una, feeling ko kakampi natin 'yung DOJ, feeling ko na suportado nila ang kaso, at 'yung feeling na 'yun ay pinatotohanan naman nung panahon ni Secretary (Leila) De Lima at saka nung panahon ni Secretary (Alfredo) Caguioa ay nandoon din 'yung support nila," the lawyer said at a virtual forum.

Claiming that witness testimonies are enough to prove the guilt of the respondents, Santos said the resolution dismissing charges against most of them is another manifestation of impunity.

Prosecutors found probable cause to file murder charges against Datu Moning Ampatuan Asim, Datu Harris Ampatuan Macapendeng, Dali Kamendan a.k.a. Kumander Boy, Mautin Upam, Rene Upam, Datu Diego 'Digo' Mamalapat, Daud Kamendan a.k.a. Kumander Kuatro, and a certain "Biton" from the Philippine National Police.

In a 33-page resolution, prosecutors said there was evidence showing that seven of the eight -- except "Biton" -- attended meetings where the Ampatuans planned the massacres and "participated in the shooting of the victims" themselves.

"Biton," on the other hand, was not in the meetings but led his officers to block the victims' convoy on November 23, 2009, prosecutors said.

The rest of the respondents "may have attended some of the supposed meetings, but did not take part in the actual killings," according to the resolution.

The victims' families have filed a motion for reconsideration.

Exactly 11 years ago, on November 23, 2009, around a hundred armed men abducted the wife, sisters, relatives, and supporters of Maguindanao gubernatorial candidate Esmael Mangudadatu who were on their way to file his candidacy, forced them up a remote hill, and shot them using high-powered firearms. 

Fifty-eight people died, 32 of them members of the media who had accompanied Mangudadatu's camp to cover the candidacy filing. Six of the victims were not part of the convoy at all. 

Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes convicted dozens of people, including former Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy Ampatuan, Anwar Ampatuan Sr., Anwar "Ipi" Ampatuan Jr., and Anwar Sajid "Ulo" Ampatuan, and several police officers, in December 2019. 

They were declared guilty of multiple murder for the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao in 2009 that is known as an unprecedented case of election-related violence and an exceptionally brutal attack on the press.

Along with Manny, Mohades, and Misuari Ampatuan, several police officers and other personalities, they were sentenced to reclusion perpetua, or up to 40 years of imprisonment, without parole.

Fourteen police officers and Bong Andal, who operated the backhoe in the infamous massacre, were sentenced to six to 10 years in prison after they were found to have acted as accessories to the crime.

Clan patriarch Andal Sr. was also among the accused but he died of liver cancer while in detention in 2015.

Four Ampatuans — Akmad alias "Tato," Sajid Islam, Jonathan, Jimmy— along with dozens of other individuals were, meanwhile, acquitted on the ground of reasonable doubt; three were acquitted for the prosecution's "absolute" failure to prove their guilt. They were ordered released from jail unless they are being detained for other lawful causes.

In her 761-page decision, the judge also ordered the principal accused to pay hundreds of thousands to millions of pesos in damages and loss of earning capacity to the heirs of each of the victims — except that of photojournalist Reynaldo "Bebot" Momay, the 58th massacre victim whose body was never found.

The court acquitted all the accused over Momay's death due to reasonable doubt and dismissed his family's claim for damages.

Convictions, however, are appealable all the way up to the Supreme Court. The case is now with the Court of Appeals. 

Many of the accused are still at large. —KG/AOL, GMA News