Massacre hearing ends early due to ‘lack of witnesses’
August 26, 2011
THE hearing on Maguindanao massacre case ended early Thursday due to lack of prosecution witnesses and after a police report that served as evidence was not photocopied.
Defense lawyers informed Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes that they have yet to photocopy the three-inch thick police report earlier presented by the prosecution.
The defense said they have a right to have the entire police blotter photocopied as provided for under Section 17, Rules 132 of the Revised Penal Code.
The police blotter report contained the statement of prosecution witness Kenny Dalandag. It was presented in court Wednesday by former acting Buluan police chief Cixon Kasan.
Government lawyers said Dalandag, a member of Ampatuan’s private army at the time of the massacre, was present when the Ampatuans allegedly planned the slaughter.
Thirty-two media workers were among the 57 persons killed in the massacre allegedly perpetrated by the influential political clan in Maguindanao.
Since the start of the trial, Dalandag was not able to take the witness stand as the defense lawyers prevented him from testifying. They even brought the matter to the Supreme Court (SC), where it stays unresolved.
Judge Reyes on Wednesday allowed Kasan to read the police blotter detailing Dalandag’s knowledge of the November 23, 2009 massacre.
In Wednesday’s hearing, defense lawyer Sigfrid Fortun asked the court that they be allowed to take custody of the police blotter so that they could pore over it before cross-examining Kasan.
The lawyer said the defense noticed several staple marks on pages and that two preceding pages on Dalandag’s blotter report were missing.
Fortun also questioned why the surname in the police blotter was Daladag and not Dalandag.
In Thursday’s hearing, the defense asked the prosecution to just present another witness but the latter headed by Regional Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Medalle said former Kasan was the only witness they had prepared to take the witness stand for the day.
This prompted Judge Reyes to end the hearing. It will resume Wednesday next week.
It was the same issue that the prosecution and defense lawyers have clashed Wednesday with Fortun insisting that a second witness be presented.
Fortun said both parties have initially agreed that the prosecution should always prepare two set of witnesses every hearing to speed up the trial.
He said the failure of the prosecution to present another witness would further complicate and delay the proceedings; a predicament that several sectors have said could happen in the case.
Last year, Senator Joker Arroyo even said that it may take 200 years for the final verdict on the accused to come up due to the number of suspects charged, 196, and the numerous petitions filed in court.
Private prosecutor Nena Santos then scored the defense counsels, saying it was they who are causing delay to the court’s proceedings.
Santos said she is worried that a testimony that did not go through a cross examination will later be rendered “without a value, without weight, and pointless.”
She said court rules require a testimony to undergo the proper procedure of being cross examined in order to determine the validity of the witness.
Santos is the lead counsel of Maguindanao governor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu, who lost his wife, Bai Genalyn, and two sisters in the massacre. (AH/Sunnex)
Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2011/08/25/massacre-hearing-ends-early-due-lack-witnesses-175400
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