THE Court of Appeals has upheld the order of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court allowing the son of former Maguindanao governor and clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr. to be released from jail after posting bail.
The court’s 16th Division denied the appeal filed by government prosecutors seeking the reversal of the order issued by RTC Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes who on Jan. 9 allowed Datu Sajid Islam Ampatuan, one of the accused in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, to post bail.
The appellate court said Reyes did not err when she issued her order.
In the instant case, the Court finds that public respondent did not act in a whimsical, arbitrary and capricious manner when she granted private respondent’s motion for bail, the CA said.
Sajid Islam was released from jail in March 2015 after posting P200,000 for each count of murder, or a total of P11.6 million, for the 58 counts of murder filed before the court in connection with the Maguindanao massacre.
Sajid Islam, along with the other members of the Ampatuan clan, are accused of masterminding the Maguindanao massacre in which 58 people were killed”•including 32 journalists”•to derail the political plans of rival Esmael Mangudadatu, the incumbent governor of Maguindanao, for the 2010 elections.
Reyes ruled that Sajim Islam’s mere presence during the three meetings with the other accused allegedly to plot the massacre did not constitute strong evidence of guilt to deny his motion for bail, and considering that he did not utter any word while matters related to the crime were supposedly being discussed by the other respondents.
The CA noted that, based on the records, a hearing on the application for bail was conducted and that the prosecution was given enough opportunity to present evidence in support of its opposition to Sajid Islam’s motion for bail.