What Do You Think?

[jerrys1960]

While the people arrested have not all been released, many members of the group have had a lot of the charges dropped.

Anyone want to take bets that the others will likely have the charges dropped due to poor and improper handling of evidence.

Which means the people involved in the hijacking and executions will most likely walk away free with only time served in the holding areas.



copied from:

http://news.ph.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4000440

By Agence France-Presse, 3/29/2010

Philippines court drops rebel charges against massacre clan

A court in the Philippines has dismissed rebellion charges against a powerful Muslim clan accused of being behind an election-linked massacre of 57 people, the justice secretary said Monday.

"I have received information that the judge dismissed the rebellion case and his order is to release those detained," Alberto Agra told DZBB radio.

However he said the government intended to appeal the lower court's ruling, and the members of the Ampatuan clan still faced murder charges, so they would not be released from detention.



copied from:
http://news.ph.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4000656

By Agence France-Presse, Updated: 3/29/2010


Philippine court drops rebel charges against massacre clan
A court in the Philippines has dismissed rebellion charges against a Muslim clan accused of massacring 57 people, but they will not yet walk free from jail, the justice secretary said Monday.

The court's surprise decision rejected President Gloria Arroyo's reasons for controversially imposing martial law in the strife-torn southern province of Maguindanao following the election-linked murders late last year.

Justice Secretary Alberto Agra announced that a court in a Manila district in charge of the massacre case had dropped the rebellion charges laid against 24 people, including the patriarch of the Ampatuans and four of his sons.

"I have received information that the judge dismissed the rebellion case and his order is to release those detained," Agra told DZBB radio.

But he said the government would appeal the decision to the country's highest court.

Agra also pointed out that the 24 alleged rebels were among 197 people facing murder charges over the massacre, so they would not be released from jail while those judicial proceedings were still underway.

"They should continue to be detained because there is probable cause for murder," he said.

The Ampatuans are accused of orchestrating the killing of 57 people in Maguindanao on November 23 to stop a rival politician from running against a clan member in national elections.

The patriarch of the clan, Andal Ampatuan Snr, was then the governor of Maguindanao. He was grooming one of his sons and namesake to succeed him in the elections to be held in May this year.

Among the victims were the wife and two sisters of the rival politician, along with 32 journalists travelling with them in a convoy to register his candidacy for Maguindanao governor.

Until the massacre, the Ampatuans had been close political allies of President Gloria Arroyo and used by her to contain Muslim insurgents fighting a decades-long insurgency in the south.

As part of this containment strategy, Arroyo had allowed the Ampatuans to maintain a private army numbering thousands of men, as well as massive amounts of weapons and ammunition.

But amid global outrage over the massacre, Arroyo ended the alliance and imposed martial law for nine days in Maguindanao.

She said the move was necessary because the Ampatuans had tried to use their private army in a rebellion against the government.

And Arroyo's spokesman on Monday insisted the reasons for imposing martial law were valid.

"We continue to stand by the decision to declare martial law in Maguindanao," spokesman Gary Olivar told AFP.

However Harry Roque, a private prosecutor representing the slain journalists, said the rebellion charges should not have been filed in the first place because they were hard to prove.

"We have always said there was no case for rebellion and lumping the murder charge with it is part of a plan to get the Ampatuans freed," Roque told AFP.

"Now they can use this decision to bolster their argument against murder. The government just gave the defence a bullet to shoot down the case," he said.

Roque charged that Arroyo was indebted to the Ampatuan clan because she had used it and its private army to counter the Muslim separatists and to deliver crucial votes to her candidates in the previous election.

Ampatuan Jnr, accused of leading 100 gunmen in carrying out the massacre and the only suspect to have had his court proceedings begin, had not been charged with rebellion as he was arrested before martial law was imposed.

[jerrys1960]

http://news.ph.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4069633

By Agence France-Presse, Updated: 5/5/2010
Philippines revives charges in massacre case

The Philippine justice secretary revived murder charges on Wednesday against two members of a Muslim clan accused of massacring 57 people, after weeks of outrage at his initial decision to exonerate them.

Justice Secretary Alberto Agra said in a brief statement that he was reversing last month's decision to drop charges against cousins Zaldy and Akmad Ampatuan.

He said he revived the charges because a new witness had emerged who could link the two to the alleged conspiracy by the Ampatuan clan to kill the 57 people in the southern Philippines in November last year.

"The surfacing of a new witness who pinned down Zaldy and Akmad Ampatuan was apparently the result in part of the decisive measures taken by the Department of Justice," Agra said.

Six members of the Ampatuan clan and nearly 200 others allegedly acting under their orders have been charged over the massacre, which was allegedly carried out to quash the challenge of a political rival in national elections.

However Agra shocked the nation on April 21 when he announced he was dropping charges against the two Ampatuans because he did not find enough evidence against them.

Relatives of the victims, human rights and journalists' groups and even the government's own prosecutors denounced Agra's decision.

Critics charged the dropping of charges was part of an effort by President Gloria Arroyo to protect the Ampatuans, who were her close allies before the massacre.

She only cut ties to the Ampatuan after the massacre, even though critics had long accused the clan of being warlords who ruled Maguindanao province for a decade through violence and intimidation.

[jerrys1960]

http://news.ph.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4069851

By Agence France-Presse, Updated: 5/5/2010

Philippines reinstates charges in massacre case

The Philippine justice secretary on Wednesday reinstated murder charges against two key suspects in an election-linked massacre of 57 people, but denied he had caved in to public outrage.

Justice Secretary Alberto Agra said he had reversed his own decision to drop charges against cousins Zaldy and Akmad Ampatuan because new evidence had emerged indicating they were part of a conspiracy to the killings.

"New witnesses, new evidence, additional arguments. All of these things taken together led me to grant the reconsideration," Agra told AFP.

He specifically cited the emergence of new witnesses who could link the two suspects to the alleged conspiracy by the Ampatuan clan to kill the 57 people last year, in what was the nation's deadliest outburst of political violence.

The Ampatuans are a Muslim clan that ruled the southern province of Maguindanao for a decade thanks to a close alliance with President Gloria Arroyo's ruling coalition, which allowed them to run their own private army.

However Arroyo was forced to publicly end the alliance after top clan members were accused of organising the massacre to allegedly eliminate the election challenge of a political rival in national elections.

Andal Ampatuan Jnr, then a local mayor, is alleged to have led 100 gunmen in abducting a convoy of the rivals' relatives, plus accompanying journalists and lawyers.

His father, then the governor of Maguindanao and a member of Arroyo's coalition party, as well as Zaldy and Akmad, were among 196 other people also charged with murder.

Agra shocked the nation on April 21 when he announced he was dropping charges against the two Ampatuans, saying then there was not enough evidence against them.

Relatives of the victims, human rights and journalists' groups, and even the government's own prosecutors, denounced Agra's decision.

Agra insisted his latest reversal was not in reaction to the widespread outrage, saying it was natural for justice officials to change their minds.

"All the courts have the options, the prerogatives to reconsider their earlier decisions. The Supreme Court reverses itself, the Court of Appeals, our lower court judges (as well). This is no different," he said.

The two new witnesses -- members of the Ampatuans' private army -- corroborated earlier accounts that Zaldy and Akmad Ampatuan were at a meeting where the massacre was allegedly planned, Agra said.

Agra said if he had this information before, he never would have called for the dropping of charges against the two.

Critics said the initial dropping of charges was part of an effort by Arroyo to protect the Ampatuans and secretly use them to help her allies in the national elections, which will be held next week.

Nena Santos, a lawyer for some of the massacre victims, said Agra's decision showed there was still hope for a much-maligned justice system.

"We remain aware, however, that this decision does not change the fact that this case is still an uphill legal battle for us," she said.