To prove alibi, Zaldy Ampatuan camp presents airline exec, Maguindanao admin officer 

The camp of mulitple murder suspect Rizaldy "Zaldy" Ampatuan on Wednesday presented an airline supervisor and a Maguindanao administrative official to prove his claim that he was not involved in the planning and carrying out of the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre in Ampatuan in Maguindanao province.

 

At the resumption of the high-profile hearing inside Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, Zaldy's camp presented Fabian Fabian, supervisor of the Records Management of the Philippine Airlines, to show Zaldy was in Manila on the day of the massacre.

 

In a judicial affidavit presented to Quezon City Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes, the defense said Fabian was being made to testify that "on Oct 17 2014 witness (Fabian)... issued a certification that based on PAL records that Zaldy was a passenger in PAL flight PR 810 from Davao to Manila with flight date 23 November 2009."

 

Fabian also testified that the day after the massacre, on Nov. 24, 2009, Zaldy, a former governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, flew from Manila to Cotabato City via PAL flight PR 187.

 

A second witness, Parok Midtimbang, was presented by defense lawyer Edward Chico to belie the prosecution's allegation that Zaldy was in conspiracy with his co-accused to plan the killings on the night of Nov. 17, 2009.

 

At the time of the killings, Midtimbang was officer in charge at the administrative office of Datu Angal Midtimbang in Maguindanao.

 

Midtimbang testified that Zaldy was in the municipality of Datu Hoffer "and thus could not whether direct or indirectly participate in the same meeting, planning, and commission of the criminal offenses charged against him."

 

The camp of Zaldy told the Quezon City court that it still has three more witnesses to present in subsequent hearings to prove the former governor's innocence.

 

Zaldy and members of his clan, including his father and brothers, are accused of plotting what would turn out to be the worst single-day election-related violence in Philippine history.

 

A total of 58 people, including 32 journalists, were killed allegedly by members of the Ampatuan clan and members of their private army.

 

The victims were part of a convoy that was supposed register then-Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu as a candidate for Maguindanao governor.

Zaldy's futile pleas 

 

In July 2011, the then one-and-a-half year-old trial took a significant turn when Zaldy – through interviews in several media outfits while in detention – broke his silence and said he was willing to testify in the massacre case.

 

His lawyers would later clarify that while their client wants to take the stand, he will not be applying to become a state witness.

 

Zaldy has repeatedly attempted to get his name off the list of accused – running both to the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court.

 

All his efforts have, however, ended in vain, with the high court sealing his arraignment on Nov. 14, 2012 when it denied the former governor's final plea and ruled that it will no longer entertain any pleading regarding the matter.

 

Zaldy pleaded not guilty to the charges on Dec. 12, 2012.

 

From the start, Zaldy has been giving an alibi in the massacre case, saying he was in Manila at the time of the killings. — RSJ, GMA News