Archive for the ‘Case Updates’ Category
Monday, January 23rd, 2012 |
CMFR/PHILIPPINES – The Manila Court of Appeals (CA) has upheld its 18 August 2011 denial of the petition for certiorari filed by a primary accused in the 23 November 2009 Ampatuan massacre.
In a 3 January 2012 resolution, the Manila CA’s former 16th Division denied the 31 August 2011 motion for reconsideration filed by former Mamasapano town, Maguindanao mayor Akmad “Tato” Ampatuan Sr. seeking the reversal of the 18 August 2011 decision affirming his inclusion in the list of accused in the Ampatuan multiple murder case. (The Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists, Inc. [FFFJ] received a copy of the decision on 18 January 2012. CMFR is the secretariat of FFFJ.)
“Finding no new matter of substance which would warrant the modification much less the reversal of the assailed Decision, petitioner’s Motion for Reconsideration is hereby DENIED for lack of merit (emphasis not supplied),” said the decision penned by Associate Justice Francisco Acosta. The other members of the Division are Associate Justices Vicente Velasco and Angelita Gacutan.
Tato Ampatuan filed a Motion for Reconsideration last 31 August 2011 after the appellate court denied his petition for certiorari against former Acting Justice Sec. Alberto Agra and families of the victims in the 23 November 2009 Massacre. Tato Ampatuan alleged that Agra acted with grave abuse of discretion when he ordered his re-inclusion in the list of accused in the multiple murder case.
The Manila CA in its 18 August 2011 decision said “no reversible error (was) committed by the public respondents in finding probable cause to indict the petitioner for multiple murder.” (as qtd. in an Inquirer report, http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/44071/appeals-court-won%E2%80%99t-let-suspect-off-the-hook)
Tato Ampatuan is among the 196 persons charged with 57 counts of murder for allegedly planning and executing the killing of 58 persons including 32 journalists and media workers in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao on 23 November 2009. Almost two years have passed since the Massacre trial started but, as of press time, only 64 of the 196 alleged perpetrators have been arraigned. Of the 64, only two are members of the Ampatuan clan.
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Sunday, November 13th, 2011 |
CMFR/PHILIPPINES – PRIVATE COMPLAINANTS and press freedom organizations are now awaiting the arraignment of suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan after the Manila Court of Appeals (CA) affirmed his indictment for the Nov. 23, 2009 Ampatuan town, Maguindanao massacre.
In its 8 November 2011 decision penned by Associate Justice Noel Tijam, the Manila CA Special (Former) 11th Division dismissed the amended petition for certiorari (with application for issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction) filed by Ampatuan questioning his reinstatement as an accused in the multiple murder case against 196 alleged planners and perpetrators of the Ampatuan, Maguindanao Massacre in May 2010.
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Tuesday, September 6th, 2011 |
For airing an “exclusive” interview with Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) suspended governor Zaldy Ampatuan last July 11, ABS-CBN 2 and reporter Anthony Taberna are facing possible contempt charges.
Zaldy, his legal counsel Howard Calleja, and the warden of Quezon City Jail Annex, Jail Senior Insp. Bernardino Edgar Camus, are also facing similar charges.
An “Amended Motion for the Issuance of a Show Cause Order” was filed July 28 by lawyer Nena Santos, legal counsel of 26 private complainants including Maguindanao Gov. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu in the Ampatuan Massacre case.
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Monday, August 8th, 2011 |
CMFR/PHILIPPINES – Branch 221 of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Quezon City denied 29 July 2011 the prosecution panel’s bid to turn into state witnesses a former vice mayor and two police officers allegedly involved in the 23 November 2009 massacre in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao.
In an eight-page Omnibus Order, Judge Jocelyn Solis Reyes Judge Jocelyn Solis Reyes said that the motion to discharge from the charges accused Mohammad Sangki, Police Insp. Rex Ariel Diongon, and Police Officer 1 Rainier Ebus and to make them state witnesses filed by the prosecution panel was “bereft of merit.” The prosecution had earlier asked the court to make P/Insp. Michael Macaraeg, one of those accused of involvement in the massacre a state witness, but withdrew the motion on 17 November 2010.
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Wednesday, July 13th, 2011 |
SUSPENDED AUTONOMOUS Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Zaldy Ampatuan asked the court last 5 July, 2011 to allow him to undergo a medical examination in a private hospital. The request came six days after a member of the Andal Ampatuan Sr. household staff testified that Andal Sr. was present at the meeting during which the November 23, 2009 massacre of 58 men and women including 32 journalists was planned.
Zaldy, through his legal counsel Redemberto Villanueva, filed a “Very Urgent Motion for Medical Examination” before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) stating that they “want him (Zaldy) to undergo an examination due to his fluctuating blood pressure and sugar level brought about perhaps by the changing weather.” The five-page motion stated that the suspended governor prefers to be examined and confined at St. Luke’s Global City.
A clinical summary allegedly written by a Reynaldo Romero, M.D. claims that the governor is suffering from “Type 2 Diabetes Poorly Controlled with Possible Retinopathy and Nephropathy.”
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Tuesday, July 12th, 2011 |
CMFR/PHILIPPINES – THE SUPREME Court of the Philippines named the branch of court handling the Ampatuan Massacre case as a “special court” last 28 June 2011.
In a 28 June 2011 resolution, the Supreme Court en banc granted the petition filed by the National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC) and Alyansa ng Filipino Mamamahayag (AFIMA, Alliance of Filipino Journalists) asking that Branch 221 of the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City be named as “a special court which should have no other duties but the trial of Maguindanao massacre cases.”
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Friday, July 8th, 2011 |
CMFR/PHILIPPINES – The Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge hearing the Ampatuan (Maguindanao) Massacre case denied last 1 July 2011 the primary accused’s motions protesting the inclusion in the prosecution’s list of witnesses other accused persons and a confessed participant in the 23 November 2009 incident in which 58 people including 32 journalists and media workers were killed.
Quezon City RTC Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Reyes-Solis dismissed in a five-page order the motions of Andal “Unsay” Ampatuan Jr. dated 20 August 2010 and 16 September 2010 which seek the exclusion of 33 other accused and of Kenny Dalandag as witnesses for the prosecution. Former Ampatuan security man Dalandag has admitted participation in the execution of the 23 November 2009 Ampatuan massacre.
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Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 |
CMFR/PHILIPPINES – The Philippine Supreme Court has partially granted the request of media and private complainants to allow live coverage of the trial of 196 persons including members of the Ampatuan clan for the November 23, 2009 murder of 58 persons, among whom 32 were journalists and media workers.
In a resolution penned by Justice Conchita Carpio Morales and promulgated 14 June 2011, the Supreme Court, sitting en banc, allowed pro hac vice (“for this occasion”) live radio and television coverage of the Ampatuan (Maguindanao) Massacre trial subject to guidelines it specified.
“[I]t is about time to craft a win-win situation that shall not compromise rights in the criminal administration of justice, sacrifice press freedom and allied rights, and interfere with the integrity, dignity and solemnity of judicial proceedings,” the resolution read. It explained that the guidelines, which are “not curtailment of a right, provides a workable solution to the concerns raised in these administrative matters, while, at the same time, maintaining the same underlying principles upheld in the two previous cases.”
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Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 |
1. The audio-visual recording of the Ampatuan massacre cases may be made both for documentary and for transmittal to live radio and television broadcasting.
2. Media entities must file with the trial court a letter of application, manifesting that they intend to broadcast the audio-visual recording of the proceedings…. No selective or partial coverage shall be allowed.
3. A single fixed compact camera shall be installed inconspicuously inside the courtroom to provide a single wide-angle full-view of the trial court.
4. The transmittal of the audio-visual recording from inside the courtroom to the media entities shall be conducted in such a way that the least physical disturbance shall be ensured.
5. The broadcasting of the proceedings for a particular day must be continuous and in its entirety, excepting such portions thereof where Sec. 21 of Rule 119 of the Rules of Court applies, and where the trial court excludes, upon motion, prospective witnesses from the courtroom, in instances where, inter alia, there are unresolved identification issues or there are issues which involve the security of the witnesses and the integrity of their testimony.
6. No commercial break or any other gap shall be allowed until the day’s proceedings are adjourned, except during recess called by the trial court.
7. The proceedings shall be broadcast without any voice-overs, except brief annotations of scenes depicted therein as may be necessary to explain them at the start or at the end of the scene.
8. No repeat airing of the audio-visual recording shall be allowed until after the finality of judgment, except brief footages and still images derived from or cartographic sketches of scenes based on the recording only for news purposes.
9. The original recording shall be deposited in the National Museum and the Records Management Archives Office.
10. The audio-visual recording of the proceedings shall be made under the supervision and control of the trial court.
Source: Supreme Court (En Banc) Resolution on A.M. No. 10-11-5-SC, A.M. No. 10-11-6-SC, and A.M. No. 10-11-7-SC, promulgated 14 June 2011
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Wednesday, May 25th, 2011 |
CMFR/PHILIPPINES – The patriarch of the Ampatuan clan has asked the Quezon City court trying him and 195 others to arraign him in the next hearing.
In an 18 May 2011 motion, Andal Ampatuan Sr. requested through his counsel that he be arraigned on 25 May 2011. The hearings on the Ampatuan Multiple Murder case have been postponed for a week to give way to a court stenographers’ convention.
Andal Sr. is the head of the Ampatuan family, some of whose members are the primary suspects in the 23 November 2009 killing of 57 persons in Maguindanao province. Only 57 of the 196 charged have been arraigned since the trial began in January 2010. More than a hundred remain free, including some sons and grandsons of Andal Sr.
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