Duterte orders prosecution panel to ‘get partial judgment’ on Maguindanao massacre case

By Arjay L. Balinbin, Reporter
Malacañang on Tuesday, June 19, said President Rodrigo R. Duterte wants the government prosecution panel that handles the 2009 Maguindanao massacre case “to do its best to get partial judgment” against some of the suspects within the year.
“The President has instructed the prosecution panel to do its best to get partial judgment against some of the accused within the year,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry L. Roque, Jr. said in a televised press briefing in Cotabato City on Tuesday afternoon.
He added: “That is the marching order of the President when he conferred with the prosecution panel. And we hope to do that.”
In his meeting with the families of victims on Nov. 23 last year, Mr. Duterte promised them that justice will be served “under his watch.”
That day marked the eighth anniversary of the massacre in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao, which claimed the lives of 58, including 32 identified with the media.