Court orders return of Maguindanao massacre suspect from hospital to jail
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2019 10:30:00 +0000
THE Quezon City Regional Trial Court has ordered the return of Zaldy Ampatuan, one of the prinicipal accused in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, two days before the verdict on one of the most heinous crimes committed in the Philippines is handed down.
Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes said in her order dated December 16 that “the court finds that there is no longer any need for accused-movant to remain in the hospital.”
The court emphasized that the rehabilitation procedure may be done to Ampatuan while in detention.
The court directed the Jail Warden of Quezon City Jail-Annex in Camp Bagong Diwa to immediately transport Ampatuan to the detention facility.
Ampatuan had sought for an extension of his confinement at the Makati Medical Center (MMC), which Reyes denied, along with a motion to bring in two more of his lawyers inside the court room on Thursday.
Ampatuan was rushed to Taguig Pateros District Hospital on October 21 when he suffered a stroke.
He was transferred to the MMC’s Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit where he had since been confined.
Solis-Reyes also denied Ampatuan’s motion to bring in two additional lawyers during the court’s verdict on Thursday, citing the limited space in the courtroom.
“All private prosecutors and their clients, heirs of the victims, are enjoined to limit the number of counsel who will attend the promulgation day, to one per client. This likewise applies to all the defense counsels,” it read in the resolution.
Ampatuan, a former governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), is among the 100 accused in the murder of 58 persons, including 32 journalists, on Nov. 23, 2009.
The victims were killed while on their way to file the certificate of candidacy for Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu, then vice mayor of Buluan town, in the 2010 national elections.
Andal Jr. is still in jail while Sajid Ampatuan is out on bail and currently the mayor of Shariff Saydona Mustapha town in Maguindanao.
Andal Sr., father of the Ampatuans and the alleged mastermind of the crime, died of a heart attack in 2015.
The verdict will be handed down on Thursday, December 19, after a trial spanning 10 years. FRANZ EMBUDO