Maguindanao massacre suspect cleared of murder but goes home to some bad news

Richard Gofel has every reason to celebrate after he got acquitted in the high-profile Maguindanao multiple murder case, considered by some as the trial of the decade. However, some bad news will greet him upon his return home in the southern Philippine city of General Santos.

Gofel, who also goes by the name Fahad Utto, will go home to news that his live-in partner had already married someone else, and that one of his children had already passed away while he was spending his 10-year incarceration in Metro Manila, according to a report on GMA News TV's Balitanghali Weekend.

Gofel was among the 56 accused acquitted by a Quezon City court in connection with what is considered as the Philippines' worst case of election-related violence and the single deadliest attack on journalists since detailed records were kept.

Despite the twin bad news, Gofel's relatives are still excited to reunite with him after a decade.

"Salamat sa Diyos maganda ang pamaskong ibinigay niya sa amin. Sana maka-uwi ka na dito Richard ngayong pasko para makapiling mo na ang iyong mga anak," said one relative in between tears.

Apart from Gofel, some of the other acquitted individuals in the murder case have already been released from jail, except a few others who have other pending cases or whose release papers are still being processed.

Found guilty in the multiple murder case were prominent members of the Ampatuan, an influential political clan in Mindanao, as well as members of their alleged private army and the local police. 

The massacre resulted in the gruesome deaths of 58 people, including 32 journalists, most of whom were en route to a filing of a certificate of candidacy for governor of then Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu, from another influential clan. 

He would go on to win the gubernatorial race and eventually become a congressman of Maguindanao. — MDM, GMA News