Ampatuan son granted bail

MANILA, Philippines - The Quezon City judge handling the Maguindanao massacre trial granted yesterday the petition for bail of an Ampatuan charged with multiple murder in connection with the Nov. 23, 2009 bloodbath, The STAR learned yesterday.

Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes, in a 12-page omnibus order, granted the bail petition of Sajid Islam Ampatuan, son of former Maguindanao governor and clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr.

But in the same order, the judge denied the bail petition of Anwar Ampatuan Sr. and Akmad “Tato” Ampatuan, son and son-in-law, respectively, of the Ampatuan clan patriarch.

Solis-Reyes set the bail for Sajid Islam at P200,000 per murder count, or a total of P11.6 million for the 58 counts filed before the court.

According to the judge, the prosecution panel failed to establish strong evidence that would warrant the continued detention of Sajid Islam while the trial is ongoing.

Citing the testimonies of witnesses, the judge noted that the suspect was merely present in the meetings but did not utter any word while the crime was supposedly being discussed.

“Taking into consideration this silence and non-participation notwithstanding the fact that he gave P2,000 to a witness for the latter to buy fish, the court finds, in its exercise of sound discretion, that the totality of the circumstances presently fails to reach the threshold of strong evidence of guilt,” read the order.

The judge, however, reiterated that the findings of the court on the bail petition is not related to a finding of guilt or innocence, which would be adjudged in a full-blown trial.

Level of involvement

Meanwhile, Solis-Reyes noted that there is strong evidence established against Akmad Tato and Anwar Sr., as witnesses stated that they have participated in the meetings where the plan was allegedly being plotted.

“Given the level of involvement in the planning – as depicted by the frequency of his attendance and by the utterances he made during the same meetings – this court is of the view that the evidence of guilt of Akmad ‘Tato’ is strong,” said the judge.

“The same rationale can be said about Anwar Sr.,” she added.

Sajid Islam is the 42nd suspect is the Maguindanao massacre who has been granted bail.

Last year, the judge allowed 41 police officers charged for the massacre to post bail in exchange for their temporary liberty. However, none of the police officers have paid the amount set by the court.