EDITORIAL - Tough battle ahead

Nearly two years ago, the nation watched in horrified disbelief as body after body was pulled out of a freshly dug mass grave in a remote mountainous area of Ampatuan town in Maguindanao.

Today key members of the clan accused of responsibility in the mass murder are detained without bail, on trial for a crime that could put them behind bars for the rest of their life. But the case is moving at the usual sluggish pace of Philippine justice, and the Ampatuans are using all their available resources to fight conviction. The government must ensure that justice is done.

The other day the patriarch of the clan pleaded not guilty to the massacre, raising the likelihood of a tough, protracted court battle. Andal Ampa-tuan Sr., who for nearly a decade ruled the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao like a fiefdom, has denied conspiring with his sons, notably Andal Jr., to kill relatives and supporters of Esmael Mangudadatu, who dared challenge the Ampatuans for the governor’s post in Maguindanao.

The victims’ convoy was waylaid on the way to the capitol in Sultan Kudarat, where Mangudadatu’s certificate of candidacy was to be filed. His relatives and supporters, accompanied by over 30 media workers, were butchered. At the mass grave, 57 bodies were dug up; a journalist remains unaccounted for.

Although out of power, the clan’s financial resources are believed to be enormous. It’s the kind of money that can pay for expensive lawyers and the permanent silence of key prosecution witnesses. Authorities should trace the source of those vast assets, amassed in one of the poorest regions in the country. At the very least, authorities should determine if the assets were declared and proper taxes paid.

The most important factor, if justice is to be served, is to build an airtight case and work for the speedy trial of the principal defendants. Hundreds of people have been implicated in the massacre, with more still to be identified and captured. But the suspected masterminds – the only ones who could have had a motive for the atrocity – are facing trial. Their speedy prosecution and conviction will be a major victory for the victims, even if bringing those hundreds of others to justice takes 200 years, as some quarters have warned. The law and justice aren’t always synonymous. In the face of an aggressive defense, prosecutors cannot afford to bungle this case.