'Andal Jr. cannot avoid hearings'

MANILA, Philippines - Prosecutors have expressed opposition to the plea of Maguindanao massacre suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr. to waive his presence during court hearings, saying he is just avoiding identification by witnesses.

“The urgent motion is a machination employed by the defense to avoid positive physical identification by prosecution witnesses,” said the panel of prosecutors led by Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon.

Ampatuan had expressed to Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 his wish to avoid being heckled by the media during hearings at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

Prosecutors said Ampatuan can ask to be excused from the hearings, “but not his obligation to appear in court for identification purposes.”

“The accused, in his defense, may later on avert that he was never identified as the person charged in the information and is therefore entitled to an acquittal,” they said.

Ampatuan Jr. is among those accused of having participated in the killing of 57 people in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao on Nov. 23, 2009.