Court asked to junk Andal Jr.'s plea vs witness

MANILA, Philippines - The prosecution has asked a court to junk Andal Ampatuan Jr.’s repeated plea to delete a town official’s testimony tagging him as the brains of the “Maguindanao massacre.”

The prosecution panel claimed before the Regional Trial Court Branch 221 that Ampatuan Jr.’s motion for reconsideration lacked merit and was only a rehash of his previous pleading.

The court earlier denied Ampatuan Jr.’s motion asking to expunge from court records the testimony of Rasul Sangki, who had tagged him and his father, Andal Ampatuan Sr., as the ones who plotted the massacre.

Defense lawyer Philip Sigfrid Fortun had claimed Sangki was not an ordinary witness because he admitted his complicity in the killings.

The court had ruled that the accused cannot dictate upon the prosecution who to indict and present as its witness.

According to the prosecution, Sangki is an ordinary witness and not among the accused in the murder case because there is no complaint against him.