The Court of Appeals has sustained its decision that reversed the ruling issued by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court that found a senior police officer not guilty as accessory in the Maguindanao massacre.
In a two-page resolution dated February 21, 2022, the CA’s Sixth Division junked the motion for reconsideration filed by Senior Police Officer 2 Badawi Bakal seeking to overturn its decision issued on June 14, 2021.
The appellate court ruled that Bakal failed to raise new arguments in his motion that would justify the setting aside of its June 14, 2021 decision.
In the said ruling, the CA granted the petition filed by Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) and set aside the ruling issued by QC RTC Branch 221 Presiding Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes insofar as it acquitted Bakal as an accessory to the 57 counts of murder filed against 101 individuals for their involvement in the massacre that took place November 23, 2009 and left 57 people dead, including 31 members of media.
The CA held that Bakal’s actuations immediately after the commission of the crime demonstrated his liability as an accessory.
The appellate court stressed that the trial court committed grave abuse of discretion “when it turned a blind eye to the prosecution’s having clearly demonstrated the existence of evidence beyond reasonable doubt” against the respondent.
With this ruling, the CA sentenced Bakal to imprisonment of four years and two months as minimum to 10 years of prison mas maximum for each of the 57 counts of murder.
Aside from imprisonment, he was also held solidarily liable with his co-convicted accused of the same class to pay civil indemnity and damages to the heirs of the 57 victims, in the sums determined by the respondent trial court.
The CA gave weight to the testimonies of witnesses Esmael Canapia and Takpan Dilon who were brought to the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) office in Cotabato City on Nov. 25, 2009.
Canapia and Dilon claimed that Bakal told them not to say anything about what they witnessed at Mount Masalay on November 23, 2009 otherwise something bad would happen to them and their families.
In seeking for reconsideration, Bakal argue that the testimonies of Canapia and Dion failed to clearly establish that he had actual knowledge of the purported acts of the assailants; records were lacking of any evidence clearly showing that he was informed and that he was privy to any of the plans concerning the commission of the massacre; and the petition of the OSG violate his right against double jeopardy.
But the CA ruled that Bakal’s petition “is bereft of merit.”
“A perusal of the motion of SPO2 Bakal discloses that he has not raised any new, substantial ground or reason that would call for either a reversal or modification of our decision. The arguments embodied in the motion have been amply discussed and passed upon when were rendered our decision,” the decision penned by Associate Justice Apolinario Bruselas, Jr. stated.
“To discuss again the ratio decidendi (the rationale) of our decision would be to belabor the issues ad infinitum (without end),” it added.
It can be recalled that in 2019, the QC RTC convicted eight members of the Ampatuan clan led by former Maguindanao Mayor Datu Andal “Unsay” Ampatuan, Jr. and his brother Zaldy, who is a former governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and 26 other principal accused for 57 counts of murder in connection with the massacre. They were also sentenced to reclusion perpetua without parole.
