Court denies Ampatuans' plea on arraignments

MANILA, Philippines - The judge hearing the Maguindanao massacre multiple murder case has denied pleadings made by Andal Ampatuan Sr. and son Andal Jr. on their previous arraignments.

The junking of the Ampatuans’ omnibus motion was contained in a two-page ruling issued by Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Regional Trial Court Branch 221 dated Aug. 9.

Andal Jr. had requested that he be “re-arraigned” in light of an amended information against him. He cited the name of a place mentioned in the original charge sheet is “Malating” and was replaced with “Salman” in the amended version.

Salman is the village where the killings happened, while Malating is a sitio in Salman, where a checkpoint was said to have been set up to block the convoy of the victims before they were killed.

The father and son earlier pleaded not guilty to 57 counts of murder for the Nov. 23, 2009 killings in Ampatuan town.

In her decision, Solis-Reyes said there was no need to re-arraign Andal Jr. over the change of the name of the place.

“The change from Malating to Salman is not a substantial information which necessitates re-arraignment of accused Andal Jr.,” Solis-Reyes said.

She cited that considering the change was only concerning “form” and “not an element of the crime…amendment will [not] affect jurisdiction of this court.”

Solis-Reyes also denied a pleading made by clan patriarch Andal Sr. to “recall” his arraignment, pending the resolution of several “incidents” that the defense had filed before the Department of Justice.

Solis-Reyes said that since Andal Sr. had already been arraigned last June 1, wherein he pleaded not guilty, the Ampatuans’ omnibus motion has likewise been rendered “moot.”