By Jeffrey Damicog
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra is confident that the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) will issue within the year its verdict on the 2009 Maguindanao massacre.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra (CZAR DANCEL / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
“The DOJ (Department of Justice) expects that a judgment will be rendered before the 10th anniversary of the infamous massacre on 23 November 2019, and that justice will finally be served,” Guevarra said.
Guevarra pointed out that the trial of the case has just been concluded last July before Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of QC RTC Branch 221.
He said the trial of the case has just been concluded last July before Judge Solis-Reyes of QC RTC Branch 221.
“The parties were given until 15 August 2019 to submit simultaneously their respective memorandum or written summation, after which the case shall be considered as submitted for decision, with or without the memoranda of the parties,” he added.
On November 23, 2009, 58 persons were killed including 32 journalists in Barangay Salman in Ampatuan, Maguindanao.
Those killed were part of a convoy accompanying the registration of then Buluan town Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu for the 2010 gubernatorial election.
There are 197 accused in the case including members of the Ampatuan clan namely, detained former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Zaldy Ampatuan and his brother, former Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan.
Their father, former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., was also among those accused in the case but he died while in detention.