By Chito Chavez A police officer accused in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre has asked a Quezon City court to dismiss the case against him citing that the prosecution panel failed to present ample evidence and witnesses to prove his involvement in the carnage which claimed the lives 58 people. (PIXABAY / MANILA BULLETIN) In a four-page memorandum with manifestation filed at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221, Police Officer 1 Abdullah Baguadatu, through his counsel Adilberto Golla Jr., said the multiple murder charges filed against him should be junked as the prosecution failed to prove that he conspired with "the principal accused in the crime." The accused also insisted the voluminous documents and numerous witnesses presented by the prosecution against him also failed to establish his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. He added that none of the witnesses identified him as among those who were present at the crime scene. Baguadatu was among the 197 accused initially charged for the murder of 58 people, including 32 media men, in Maguindanao province on November 23, 2009. He was then assigned to the 1508th Provincial Mobile Group (PMG) based in Maguindanao under the command of his co-accused Police Inspector Rex Ariel Diongon, who later turned state witness. The police officers of the 1508th PMG were included in the case as they allegedly manned the checkpoint at Sitio Malating in Barangay Salman, Ampatuan town in Maguindanao, where the convoy of the victims was flagged down before they were killed. According to Baguadatu, he was surprised when he was among those who were charged for the 58 counts of murder. He said he left the checkpoint at Sitio Malating to go home at Datu Paglas town in Maguindanao about 5:30 p.m. on November 20, 2009 and had never returned in the area until the day of the gruesome crime. From November 21 to 22, 2009, he claimed that he was just at his parents’ house also in Datu Paglas, waiting for the money he was borrowing for the plane ticket of his wife, who was in Manila applying for a job abroad. At around 10 a.m. on November 23, 2009, Baguadatu said he went to a pawnshop at Tulunan town in North Cotabato province to send money to his mother-in-law for his wife. He said he only learned about the infamous incident at Sitio Malating after seeing it on a television news at 12 noon of the same day. The accused said he called Diongon to verify the news and the latter told him to stay put and wait for his instruction. Baguadatu said he waited for Diongon's instruction, but he received none until he decided to report for duty at the PMG on December 9, 2009. He said he "voluntarily reported" at the PNP Camp Crame in Quezon City on December 16, 2009 after he received a subpoena from the Department of Justice. "To the surprise of the accused and other members of the 1508th PMG after their affidavits were taken by the investigators at Camp Crame, they were included as respondents in the multiple murder case by conspiracy to commit the crime with the principal accused in the case," read the manifestation. Baguadatu's memorandum was filed after the court gave the accused 15 days or until January 20 to file "simultaneously parties memoranda" before the case will be submitted for resolution. He was among the 17 police officers whose bail petitions were granted in October 2014 after the court found that “the evidence of guilt of the accused is not strong.” Other accused policemen who were granted bail by the court were Police Inspector Michael Joy Macaraeg, PO1 Herich Amaba, PO3 Rasid Anton, PO3 Felix Enate, PO1 Esprielito Lejarso, PO1 Narkouk Mascud, PO2 Saudi Pasutan, PO1 Arnulfo Soriano, PO1 Pia Kamidon, PO3 Abibudin Abdulgani, PO2 Hamad Nana, PO1 Esmael Guialal, PO2 Saudiar Ulah, SPO1 Eduardo Ong, SPO1 Oscar Donato and the late PO2 Hernanie Decipulo, who jumped from the top of the building in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City in February 2012. But even as their bail petitions were granted, the said police officers, except for Decipulo and Macaraeg who posted bail on May 11, remained in detention at the Quezon City Jail Annex in Camp Bagong Diwa as they do not have enough money to post bail in the amount of P11.6 million. The victims, who were part of the electoral convoy, was supposed to file former Buluan, Maguindanao vice-mayor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu's certificate of candidacy for the 2010 elections when he first ran as governor of Maguindanao. The wife of Mangudadatu led the convoy that was stopped and brutally murdered by allegedly more than 100 men. At that time, Mangudadatu was challenging then mayor of Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao, Andal Ampatuan Jr., who is one of the principal suspects in the multiple murder case.