Jail bureau on alert as court rules on massacre
MORE than a hundred cops will secure the police headquarters at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City as a trial court hands down today its verdict on the massacre of more than 50 people, including 32 journalists, in Maguindanao province in southern Philippines a decade ago.
Quezon City Judge Jocelyn A. Solis-Reyes is expected to rule on the case that New York-based global media watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists has called the deadliest event for journalists in history.
“The Philipine National Police urges the public to remain calm but alert and vigilant even as security is further tightened in anticipation of the Maguindanao massacre promulgation and verdict,” spokesman Brigadier General Bernard Banac told reporters yesterday.
The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology facility at Camp Bagong Diwa went on full alert for the promulgation of the ruling.
The massacre took place when family members and the media were accompanying Esmael G. Mangudadatu to the Commission on Elections to file his certificate of candidacy. Mr. Mangudadatu was then running for governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The number of accused in the murder case has been cut to 101 from 197 after some of them either died or were excluded from the trial.
Meanwhile, former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Governor Zaldy Ampatuan, one of the principal suspects who suffered a stroke, was brought back to his cell in Taguig after being confined at the Makati Medical Center for almost two months, BJMP spokesman Chief Inspector Xavier Solda said in a statement.
The trial court heard 357 witnesses — 134 from the prosecution and 165 from the defense, aside from 58 private complainants.
The Supreme Court earlier allowed live media coverage of today’s ruling Media coverage will be subject to accreditation for security reasons and given the limited space, court spokesman Brian Keith F. Hosaka said last week.
A media room with a widescreen television would be provided outside the courtroom.
Media would not be allowed inside the courtroom due to limited space. About 400 people are expected to attend the promulgation, including the more than 100 accused and their relatives, as well as families of the more than 50 murder victims.
Two cameras of the state-run PTV 4 will be allowed inside the courtroom. Other media networks, including foreign correspondents, will have to hook up to these cameras for their live broadcast.
No other cameras, video recorders and mobile phones will be allowed inside the courtroom.
Several media groups earlier said the live coverage would benefit the families of the 58 murder victims who mostly live in Mindanao.
They also said the live coverage would not prejudice the rights of the accused, and allowing the public to hear the ruling would boost “the public’s trust on transparency and accountability of court processes, particularly in how fair and just the case has been decided.”
Ms. Solis-Reyes was supposed to rule before the 10th anniversary of the massacre on Nov. 23 but she asked the high court for more time due to voluminous records.
Chief Justice Diosdado M. Peralta has said the judge “has been doing her job very well” as she gave all parties the chance to argue their case.
National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility and Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism signed the letter to the Supreme Court. Editors, officers and other journalists from several networks and publications also signed in support of the request.
The other signatories were MindaNews, Philippine Press Institute, Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Mindanao Times, Philippine Star and Interaksyon, Vera Files, ABS-CBN, Mindanao Gold Star Daily, GMA News 7 Network Cagayan de Oro, News5, Rappler, Notre Dame Broadcasting Corp., Radyo ni Juan Network and The Mindanao Cross. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas
