Victims' kin want access to Ampatuan cells

Relatives of the victims of the grisly Maguindanao massacre will ask the court hearing the multiple murder case to grant them access to the detention cells of the suspects, particularly members of the powerful Ampatuan clan. According to Ric Cachuela, elder brother of slain journalist Bal Cachuela, this is to ensure that the suspects are not getting “preferential treatment" while in jail. “We decided na makipag-eyeball sa kanila ngayong taon para mapansin ng gobyerno na lutasin ang kasong ito sa lalong madaling panahon. Mas maganda na makita namin personal para maitama kaagad kung may mapuna kami," he told GMANews.TV in an interview Sunday night. (We decided to meet them face to face this year so the government will move to solve this as early as possible. It’s better that we personally see the suspects so that any favorable treatment to them while in detention will be corrected.) Cachuela said he and other relatives of the 57 massacre victims are planning to file a motion before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 requesting a “surprise visit" to the detention cells of Andal Ampatuan Sr. and other suspects in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City. Treat them like prisoners Cachuela, who also heads the association of massacre victims’ kin called “Justice Now," said he personally wants to make sure that the detained Ampatuan clan members “are being treated like other prisoners." “Alam mo naman ang resources ng mga Ampatuan. Baka kung humingi ng mga konting consideration ay napagbibigyan (We all know how wealthy the Ampatuans are. Any of their requests might be given to them)," he said. He said they came up with the plan at a meeting in General Santos City during the 14th month commemoration of the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre on Sunday. The 57 victims — 31 of them journalists — were killed while on their way to file the candidacy papers of then Buluan Vice Mayor and now Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu, whose wife and two sisters were among the victims. [See Maguindanao massacre map and timeline here] The Mangudadatus were political rivals of the Ampatuans. The massacre was allegedly masterminded by Andal Ampatuan Jr., then Datu Unsay mayor, who is currently being tried for multiple murder. Transparency On Sunday, candle-lighting ceremonies and celebrations of the Holy Mass were held in different parts of the country, such as in General Santos City and South Cotabato, to mark the 14th month of the massacre. In Quezon City, members of the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) held a candle-lighting ceremony and a Chinese Lion Dance in Tomas Morato, supposedly to “banish away the evil spirits that killed the innocent civilians" in Nov. 2009. NUJP vice president Alwyn Alburo welcomed the plan of the massacre victims’ relatives to ask for access to the suspects’ detention cells, saying it will ensure transparency on how the Ampatuan clan members are being treated behind bars. “We support the families in that move. Things should be denied to these people and the law prohibiting them to have access to certain things should be enforced," he told reporters on Sunday night. The NUJP likewise renewed its call to President Benigno Aquino III to speed up the trial to ensure that justice will be served to the victims under his term. “We welcome the promise of President Aquino to the victims’ family members that they will get justice under his term, pero patunayan niya dapat na magkakatotoo ang pangakong ito (but he should make sure that this promise will not be broken)," he said. Aquino met with some of the bereaved relatives last week and assured them that they will get justice under his administration, and that the political landscape in Maguindanao will be changed through the upcoming elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). - KBK, GMANews.TV