Ampatuans now broke, Andal Jr. claims

MANILA, Philippines - Citing their family’s drained resources, Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr. asked the court hearing the Maguindanao massacre murder case for a seven-day extension to secure a new lawyer.

Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Regional Trial Court Branch 221 granted the request during yesterday’s hearing at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

Andal Jr. wrote the court and said his family had sold their vehicles and pieces of jewelry to sustain their daily needs.

In his letter written in Filipino, Andal Jr. claimed their resources were depleted after years of paying for the cost of litigation.

He claimed he can no longer afford the acceptance fee asked by lawyers he had talked with.

Andal Jr. also claimed a number of lawyers refused the case because of the volume of documents involved in it.

The court had given the accused until yesterday to avail of the services of a new counsel or a lawyer from the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) would be assigned to represent them.

This was after the law firms of Fortun, Narvasa & Salazar; Real, Brotarlo & Real and Manuel Law Office withdrew as counsel for several accused in the case.

But Andal Jr. said he could not just entrust his case to a PAO lawyer and that he had a right to choose his counsel.

The court also gave Nasser Esmael, Moktar Daud, Taya Bangkulat, Salik Bangkulat and Maot Dumla seven days or until Sept. 24 to get new lawyers.

Lawyer Jovito Barte will now represent Datu Anwar Ampatuan Sr., Datu Anwar Ampatuan Jr. and Datu Anwar Sajid Ampatuan.

Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr. and Datu Akmad Tato Ampatuan will now be represented by lawyer Ferdaussi Abbas while Sajid Islam Ampatuan tapped the services of lawyer Gregorio Marquez.

No media ban at Bagong Diwa

Meanwhile, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Carmelo Valmoria said yesterday that there is no media ban at Camp Bagong Diwa.

The NCRPO director issued his clarification after STAR reporter Mike Frialde and fellow journalist Evan Orias from Malaya were ordered out of the camp by a police sentry, identified as Police Officer 3 Marlon Buenaflor.

Because they were ejected from the camp, Frialde and Orias failed to cover the Maguindanao massacre hearing scheduled yesterday in the compound of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).

“There is no media ban. The media vehicles are requested to be parked at designated areas and not allowed to roam freely inside the camp because some areas are restricted,” Valmoria said in an interview.

He ordered an investigation of the incident as he noted that it might be a product of miscommunication between the NCRPO and the BJMP.

Valmoria directed Senior Superintendent Bernardo Borinaga, camp commander of Camp Bagong Diwa to coordinate with the BJMP to prevent a repeat of the incident not only during the hearing of the Maguindanao massacre but also for other hearings in the jail facilities.