Ampatuans oppose judge's inhibition from rebellion case

MANILA, Philippines - Members of the Ampatuan clan implicated in a rebellion case have asked a Quezon City court to junk a motion by the prosecution for the presiding judge to inhibit himself from hearing the charges.

In three separate comments, Andal Ampatuan Sr., Zaldy Ampatuan, Sajid Ampatuan, Anwar Ampatuan and Akmad Ampatuan said the prosecution’s motion for Judge Vivencio Baclig to inhibit lacked merit.

Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his son Zaldy said the prosecutors’ move was “a mere dilatory tactic on their (prosecution’s) part to buy time to manufacture additional evidence” and should be denied “for being utterly without merit.” They asked the court to set the continuation of the hearings on March 2.

In the 10-page joint comment filed before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 77, the two accused, through their lawyer, Redemberto Villanueva, said the prosecution resorted to “finger-pointing” and accused the trial court of “baseless charges.”

Government prosecutors earlier filed a motion for Baclig to inhibit from the rebellion case, claiming the judge allegedly exhibited his bias and “strong antagonism against the government.”

But in a five-page comment, Sajid Ampatuan, through his lawyer Felipe Egargo Jr., said that apart from being without valid grounds, the prosecution’s motion also “came late in the day” after prosecutors have presented almost all their witnesses.

Anwar and Akmad Ampatuan, in their joint comment filed by their lawyer Joseph Elmer Alcid, said the motion to inhibit was based on “flimsy arguments and without factual and legal basis.”

 “A reasonable observer will definitely see that the judge indeed showed impartiality in the conduct of hearing the motions and records will bear that he ruled judiciously on legal questions that the prosecution and defense rose from time to time,” Alcid said in the four-page motion.