Former Cotabato official who survived ambush wants to move case to Manila

MANILA, Philippines - Lawyers of former Cotabato City Vice-Mayor Muslimin Sema will move for the litigation in Metro Manila, not in Cotabato City, of the six accused in the 2012 ambush that almost caused his death.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) released on Monday a resolution, NPS XVI-INV-12B-00088, charging Cotabato City Mayor, Japal Guiani, Jr., city councilor  Graham Nazer Dumama and barangay Chairs Abdillah Lim and Amil Sula with attempted murder and multiple murder in connection with the ambush of Sema on Jan. 10, 2012.   

Also named respondents in the DOJ resolution, drafted by a panel of prosecutors and approved by Prosecutor-General Claro Arellano, were city administrator Cynthia Sayadi, her husband, Umbra Sayadi, and a police officer, Inspector Noel Gutierrez.

Sayadi is Guiani’s younger sister.

Gutierrez was implicated in the case for allegedly hiding the mobile phone of the gunman, Zermin Abdullah, who shot Sema, but was killed by his security escorts in an ensuing shootout.

Sema was wounded in his jaw when Abdullah, riding on a motorcycle driven by an unidentified companion, opened fire with a shortened M-16 rifle at his car carrying him and his bodyguards.

The DOJ panel that reviewed the case for more than two years found probable cause to prosecute Guiani and his co-accused in the Sema ambush.

Sema is chair of one of the three groups in the Moro National Liberation Front.

Sema had told reporters in Cotabato City that his lawyers, for security reasons, will file a motion for a “change of venue” in the litigation of a case, preferably in a court anywhere in Metro Manila.

“I have asked my followers, relatives and friends to just wait patiently for the outcome of this case. Justice is now being served,” Sema said in a text message to journalists.

Guiani, in an interview with a Catholic radio station in Cotabato City, said he is confident the attempted murder and frustrated murder charges against him and his co-accused will be dismissed for lack of merit.

He had also insinuated that the case was “politically motivated,” adding that he is ready to face the charges in court.

Guiani said they are opposed to the litigation of the case in a court outside of Cotabato City.

He also complained about the DOJ’s alleged disregard of the evidence they submitted in a bid to prove their innocence.