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Maguindanao massacre victims’ kin see guilty verdict

MANILA, Philippines — The long wait for justice will finally be over for the victims of one of the most gruesome incidents in Philippine history.

More than a decade after a massacre claimed the lives of 58 people, including 32 journalists, at a hilly portion of Sitio Masalay in the town of Ampatuan in Maguindanao, the judge handling the multiple murder case will hand down the verdict on 101 defendants who were arrested in connection with the incident.

Security has been tightened at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, where the promulgation of judgment in the Maguindanao massacre trial is set at 9 a.m. today.

A packed courtroom is expected at the Metro Manila District Jail Annex-2, where all arrested suspects will face – some for the first time – relatives and lawyers of the massacre victims. The Supreme Court has allowed live coverage of the verdict, which will be aired in full on government television network PTV-4.

Relatives of the victims and their lawyers are hopeful of a guilty verdict.

“We’re confident with the evidence that we submitted… We’re ready for whatever the judge would rule in this case, but we are hopeful (for a guilty verdict),” lawyer Nena Santos told The STAR in a mix of English and Filipino yesterday.

“People died. People shot them. People saw who pulled the trigger,” she added, referring to the eyewitness accounts of the prosecution, including those previously charged for the incident.

Santos represents relatives of 38 of the 58 victims, including Maguindanao Rep. Esmael Mangudadatu whose wife Genalin, other female relatives and supporters died in the massacre.

While they are confident of the evidence presented, Santos admitted that some suspects could be acquitted, noting that there were young policemen who were not personally part of the killings.

But she maintained that the evidence is strong against the Ampatuans, including Sajid Islam who was allowed to post bail.

She said the judge is also expected to rule on the civil aspect of the cases and order those who will be found guilty to pay indemnity to the victims.

Mangudadatu also proposed the revival of the death penalty in the country after seeing no remorse from the Ampatuans.

“When you face them (Ampatuans), you won’t see any remorse. They should not be followed. They should be executed,” he stressed.

Lawmakers at the House of Representatives added that they expect that today’s promulgation would yield the “highest form” of verdict to be imposed on those responsible for the massacre.

The victims of the massacre were en route to the provincial capitol in Shariff Aguak when they were stopped and brutally murdered by more than one hundred men.

Genalin was supposed to file the certificate of candidacy of her husband, who was set to challenge a scion of the Ampatuan clan for the gubernatorial post.

Because of its magnitude, the massacre was dubbed as the single worst incident for journalists in world history and cemented the Philippines’ reputation as one of the deadliest countries for journalists.

Charged in the massacre were prominent members of the then powerful Ampatuan political family, including former Maguindanao government and clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his sons Andal Jr. (Unsay), Zaldy, Sajid Islam and Anwar, who have held top government positions in the province and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Ma. Reynafe Momay-Castillo, daughter of slain photojournalist Reynaldo Momay, expressed hope that the suspects would receive the highest penalty possible for the crime they committed.

“The verdict that I want is life imprisonment without parole… I know that I am asking for something big, but based on the evidences that we presented in court, I hope that that would be enough for them to be in jail for the rest of their lives – without parole, without special treatment,” she added.

Landmark decision

The promulgation of judgment by Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of Quezon City Regional Trial Court 221 is a landmark development in the victims’ quest for justice over the Maguindanao massacre, according to Santos.

But the lawyer maintained that the struggle is far from over, as 80 of the original 197 accused remain at large.

International organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the government to intensify its efforts to arrest the 80 suspects who remain at large, stressing that failure to do so would put the lives of the witnesses and families of the victims in danger.

Of the 80 suspects at large, 15 are surnamed Ampatuan and 50 are police officers. With suspects still at large, the Department of Justice believes that security threats have always been present.

Court records show that only 117 out of the original 197 suspects have been arrested in connection with the Nov. 23, 2009 incident. Out of the 117 arrested, eight have died while in detention, including clan patriarch Andal Sr. who succumbed to liver cancer in 2015. – With Edu Punay, Elizabeth Marcelo, Artemio Dumlao, Delon Porcalla, Evelyn Macairan, Emmanuel Tupas, Christina Mendez