MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Leila de Lima on Thursday voiced her support for calls from media groups and news outfits for a live broadcast of the promulgation of the verdict for the Ampatuan massacre case.
"This case is the single, most horrific crime – multiple murder – in modern Philippine history, in terms of the number of victims which include media practitioners and the beastly nature of the killings," De Lima,a former Justice secretary, said in her statement.
The massacre is the worst case of election-related violence in Philippine history. The CPJ, too, has since called the Philippines the second most dangerous country for media practitioners, behind only Iraq.
The decade-long case trial was prolonged further as Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes asked for an extension to rule on the murder case against Datu Andal Ampatuan, Jr., the primary accused in the pending case, due to what she said were “voluminous records."
De Lima on Thursday stressed the importance of publicizing the particulars of the case, which she said "dragged on with the defense stalling the procedures."
But that deadline is soon coming, as the promulgation on the judgment is slated to be held on December 19 at the courtroom in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.
NUJP, CMFR, PCIJ ask SC to allow live coverage
This came after media groups the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility and Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism in a petition called for livestream coverage of the decision to allow the victims kin, some of whom are based in General Santos City, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Maguindanao, to receive their justice.
"Allowing live coverage would allow families unable to travel to Manila to immediately hear the decision of the 58 counts of murder of Judge Jocelyn Solis Reyes," the petition read.
"[T]ransparency made possible by a live broadcast would help boost public trust in the judicial system."
"Given how the case is now overdue, the public deserves no less than being able to see how this case will pan out," she added.
"The notoriety of this crime is known all over the world, and the world needs to know, in real time, the verdict. Will true and complete justice be served? Or will impunity continue to reign in this country?"
De Lima, who has long been known as a vocal critic of the Duterte administration, has spent more than a thousand days in detention over what she insists are trumped-up and politically-motivated drug charges.