Brillantes vows not to protect Ampatuan clan

MANILA, Philippines - Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes, who once worked for the Ampatuans, assured the families of the victims of the Maguindanao massacre that he would not protect the clan.

The families of the victims fear that Brillantes’ proposal to postpone the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is a form of support for the beleaguered clan.

Brillantes earlier said the ARMM elections scheduled in August could be synchronized with the 2013 midterm elections because the Comelec needs more time to prepare. If there would be no grounds for postponement, however, preparations would continue.

“I don’t care about the Ampatuans. They have not been my clients for a long time. I’ve always been professional in my dealings. That’s just work,” he said.                                         

He said the allegations are baseless because he cannot control the outcome of the ARMM elections.

While there is no clear postponement of the elections in ARMM, preparations would continue.

“Our preparations for that (ARMM polls) are going full-blast…there will be no slowdown,” Brillantes said.

Massacre trial goes on

In the ongoing trial of the Maguindanao massacre, the camp of former Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. has asked the court to include state witness Kenny Dalandag among the suspects in the case.

During the pre-trial hearing before Manila Regional Trial court (RTC) Judge Silvino Pampilo of Branch 26 yesterday, Ampatuan’s legal counsel John Michael Galauran asked for Dalandag to be presented as one of their witnesses during the trial.  

The two other witnesses the Ampatuan camp plans to present are National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Deputy Director Ruel Lasala, and former NBI Counter Terrorism Unit chief lawyer Ric Diaz, and two others.

Pampilo told Galauran to limit the number of witnesses to three if these are “corroborative witnesses.”

The witnesses will testify to the alleged abuse of discretion by the prosecutors in excluding Dalandag in the list of suspects in the massacre despite his having admitted to participating in the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao on Nov. 23, 2009.

Lawyers of the Office of Solicitor General (OSG) earlier asked Pampilo to dismiss Ampatuan’s appeal to include Dalandag among the suspects because of lack of merit.

The OSG also mentioned that none of the private complainants filed an action to have Dalandag prosecuted.

Ampatuan, on the other hand, claimed that his right was violated by the non-prosecution of Dalandag.

During the pre-trial hearing, Ampatuan’s camp also questioned if the inclusion of Dalandag in the government’s Witness Protection Program (WPP) justifies his exclusion from the murder charges filed against 195 others.

OSG lawyers led by Karla Monica Moraleda Manabat said they would not oppose the presentation of Dalandag as a defense witness.

The prosecution will also present the same witnesses to be presented by the defense panel.

Dalandag, who remains under the government’s protective custody, was supposedly a member of the Ampatuan milita. 

He claimed that former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. ordered his son, Ampatuan Jr., to carry out the massacre during a family gathering attended by ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan, acting Gov. Sajid Ampatuan, Shariff Aguak Mayor Anwar Ampatuan, and relatives Saudi Ampatuan Jr., Ban Ampatuan, and Ulo Ampatuan.

During the hearing, it would be resolved if Dalandag would be included among the suspects, and if he may be indicted even if he is under the witness protection program.

During the stipulation of facts, Manabat said they will not admit that Dalandag confessed involvement in the carnage in his statement to the NBI last Dec. 7, 2009.

The Ampatuan camp had argued that Dalandag’s admissions in his affidavits are “more than sufficient evidence to establish probable cause against him.”

Government lawyers said, however, that the affidavits are inadmissible as evidence against Dalandag, being a state witness. – With Sandy Araneta, Reinir Padua