MANILA, Philippines — A palpable tension hung in the air as Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 began to read out the names of the 101 accused as having taken part in the Ampatuan massacre that claimed the lives of 58 over ten years ago.
That Thursday morning on Dec. 19, 2019, marked a historic occasion—and rightly so, as the decade-long case was finally coming to what seemed to be a conclusion after years and years of constant delays.
Related Stories
Her decision resulted in Ampatuan clan patriarchs Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr. and his brother Zaldy Ampatuan being sentenced to reclusion perpetua without parole after being convicted of 57 counts of murder.
The Ampatuan massacre, which the two were held primarily responsible for, has been regarded by groups as the deadliest single-day attack on journalists in the world as well as the worst election-related case of violence in Philippine history.
Many have criticized Solis-Reyes for her supposedly slow processing of the case. Originally slated for a November 20 promulgation, the decision was delayed once again that month in 2019 as the judge cited "voluminous records" that needed sifting through. The Supreme Court granted her request.
Voluminous they were. On the day of the promulgation of her decision on Thursday, December 19, she was set to read a decision that spanned 761 pages in length after originally combing through 165 volumes in proceedings, 65 volumes in transcripts of stenographic notes and eight volumes of documentary evidence.
Decade-long case
In December 2009, just a few months after the massacre took place in Sitio Masalay in Maguindanao, the female judge's name was selected during a re-raffling held for the controversial case.
This, after her colleague and fellow Judge Luisito Cortez of branch 84 refused the case for fear of the lives of his family.
After all, the Ampatuans were a powerful political clan based in Maguindanao who by then already had a reputation for killing and abducting their political opponents and employing particularly brutal methods to boot.
At this time, according to an ABS-CBN report, she was also handling "more or less 700 cases, around 400 of which are criminal in nature."
It was during that same month that Solis-Reyes personally inspected the Police Non-Commissioned Officers’ Clubhouse inside Camp Crame. This was to ensure, she said, that there would be no problems once the trial began.
By 2010, she still constantly refused security personnel until a compulsory provision assigned her protection from the Philippine National Police.
An alumna of the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law, Reyes first wanted to take up journalism having first graduated from Lyceum of the Philippines University's journalism program.
But after having passed the bar in 1987 with a score of 80.80%, she then began her tenure serving as a public attorney from 1992 to 1995, after which she served as public prosecutor at the Department of Justice from until 2000.
The following year, she became the Presiding Judge of the Municipal Trial Court of Angeles and Olongapo, Pampanga. She was appointed to her current position in 2004.
On Thursday, the judge was lauded by Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra for ensuring that "the deaths of so many victims including members of the journalism profession will find their day of redemption."
International watchdog Human Rights Watch echoed this statement, saying that although it was delayed by years, it was still justice especially for those who lost family members.
"This momentous verdict should help provide justice to the families of the victims, and build toward greater accountability for rights abuses in the country," they said in a statement.