ON THE FOURTH ANNIVERSARY of the Maguindanao Massacre, government prosecutors say they have already presented to the court all the evidence they need to convict former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his sons for the Maguindanao Massacre.
One hundred ninety seven people, including members of the influential Ampatuan clan and the members of their militia, are facing charges for 58 counts of murder for the deaths of 58 people on November 23, 2009, in what is now known as the Maguindanao Massacre.
Today, November 23, marks the 4th anniversary since the massacre occurred on a remote hillside in Barangay Salman, Ampatuan town in Maguindanao province.
In a meeting with journalists and media groups last week, Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III and state prosecutors involved in the case briefed the newsmen on the progress in the case.
Baraan said that they were confident that the evidence that the prosecution has presented would be more than enough to secure the conviction of Andal Sr., his sons Andal Jr. and Zaldy, and five other Ampatuan clan members.
“The evidence of guilt is enough to convict the principal suspects,” Baraan said.
Trial began in early 2010, with prosecutors presenting 148 witnesses before the court. A key witness included Lakmudin Saliao, a former house help of the Ampatuan family who told the court that he witnessed the clan members planning the murder of Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu when he files his certificate of candidacy for the post of governor of Maguindanao.
In his testimony, Saliao said patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr. asked his sons how they could stop Mangudadatu from filing his candidacy. Saliao said it was Andal Jr. who proposed that Mangudadatu be killed before he files his candidacy. The clan then proceeded to plan how to waylay Mangudadatu’s convoy, Saliao said.
Baraan said the prosecution has already made its formal offer of evidence to Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes. This means that the prosecution has told the judge that it has presented all its evidence, and that it is the turn of the defense to present its case.
Technically, the Maguindanao trial is still in the bail hearings phase, but both the prosecution and defense had earlier agreed to adopt all the evidence and witnesses presented in the bail hearings for the trial proper. This is so that the same evidence does not have to be presented again later on.
Baraan said prosecutors had presented more than 80 percent of their case before the court. Additional evidence will only be presented by prosecutors depending on how the Ampatuan lawyers mount their defense.
“We will not have to call the witnesses who have been presented during the bail hearings,” said Baraan.
With the prosecution ready to rest its case, Baraan said the trial was more than halfway through, almost four years after the first hearing was held in 2010.
Of the 197 accused, only 106 are now now in government custody. Curiously, however, Baraan said he hoped that authorities do not make any more arrests in the immediate future, as this would only further delay the trial.
Baraan said that every time another wanted person is caught by authorities, prosecutors “start all over again” in presenting all the pieces of evidence and the witnesses before the court.
Watch the dialogue with Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III below, as edited by PCIJ Deputy Producer Cong B. Corrales.