Zaldy won't testify vs family

MANILA, Philippines - The lawyer of suspended governor Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) denied yesterday rumors that his client will testify against his family in connection with the Maguindanao massacre.

“That’s not true. What will he testify on? He wasn’t there when the crime happened,” lawyer Redemberto Villanueva said.

Villanueva maintained that his client was in a meeting at Malacañang with then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He added that Zaldy was in Davao when the crime was purportedly plotted.

Prosecution witness and former Ampatuan houseboy Lakmodin Saliao, however, testified in open court that Zaldy was with his family on Nov. 17, 2009 when a plot to kill then Buluan vice mayor Esmael Mangudadatu – who ran and won as Maguindanao governor in 2010 – was hatched.

Villanueva made the denial amid reports that his client will be turned into state witness and divulge what he knows in the killings allegedly masterminded by his father Andal Sr. and perpetrated by his brother Andal Jr. Such rumors had been going around for nearly a year, and was refueled by the former governor’s cell transfer last month.

According to his lawyer, Zaldy was isolated and removed from the Ampatuans’ cell in the Quezon City Jail Annex in Taguig City because of his health.

A court request made by jail warden Senior Inspector Edgar Bernardino Camus, however, said his office has received “intel reports” that Zaldy’s relationship with his family had been worsening.

The disagreement, Camus added, had extended to their visitors.

Mangudadatu lawyer Nena Santos, for her part, rejected the idea of Zaldy as state witness.

“He should have done that earlier. In so far as we’re concerned, we have enough witnesses to prove conspiracy so I think we don’t need him,” Santos said. The prosecution intends to present at least 200 witnesses.