The Department of Justice has asked the Quezon City Regional Trial Court handling the Maguindanao massacre case to order the return of principal accused Zaldy Ampatuan from a private hospital to his jail in Taguig City.
Ampatuan, a former governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), is undergoing physical therapy at the Makati Medical Center after suffering a stroke last October.
The former ARMM official was rushed to the Taguig Pateros District Hospital on Oct. 21 and then transferred to the Makati Medical Center’s cardiovascular intensive care unit.
In a manifestation with motion, the DOJ’s prosecution panel warned that Ampatuan’s alleged hospital confinement may give him the opportunity to escape now that a decision on the multiple murder case against him is forthcoming.
“The prosecution panel, therefore, is of the view that accused Zaldy Ampatuan would do any last ditch move towards his liberty, be it resorting to his act of taking flight,” the prosecutors pleaded.
The DOJ prosecutors argued that Ampatuan’s therapy could be done at his detention facility in Quezon City Jail Annex in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City.
Nonetheless, they said that if the hospital confinement is necessary, they asked the court to augment the security personnel guarding him to ensure he could not escape.
“In deference to this Honorable Court, it should now stop extending so much grace, sympathy or concern to accused Zaldy Ampatuan but has to act firmly and with an iron hand to prevent any untoward contingency while its decision is still underway,” manifestation said.
Quezon City Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes has until Dec. 20 to promulgate a judgment on the case over the massacre of 58 people, including 32 journalists, on a hill in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao on Nov. 23, 2009.
The Ampatuans were accused of orchestrating the incident to eliminate a political rival, Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu, who lost his wife, two sisters, and supporters in the attack. Mangudadatu is now a congressman.
The incident is known as the Philippines’ worst case of election-related violence and the single deadliest attack on the press since detailed records were kept.
Zaldy and his brothers Andal Jr. and Sajid have all sought to be acquitted, citing different alibis.
Zaldy denied attending the alleged meetings where the killings were said to have been planned. He also claimed he was in Manila, not Maguindanao when the massacre happened.
