Ten years and two days after she was assigned to the case, Quezon City Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes handed down her judgment in the country’s most celebrated case of mass murder, finding members of the powerful Ampatuan clan guilty beyond reasonable doubt of killing 58 people—including 32 journalists—on Nov. 23, 2009.
Reyes’ verdict was contained in a 761-page decision, highlights of which were read aloud by Clerk of Court Aissa Sto. Domingo, before a jam-packed courtroom inside the Metro Manila District Jail Annex 2, in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City.
Reyes took on the multiple murder cases after Quezon City RTC Branch 84 Presiding Judge Luisito Cortez to whom the case was first raffled off to on Dec. 15, 2009, opted to inhibit himself from handling the case for fear that he and his family could be the target of attacks from the accused members of the Ampatuan clan, whose clout could reach Metro Manila.
Cortez, who already survived an ambush during his stint in Bulacan, said he received death threats when he handled the high-profile case involving the assassination of Abra Rep. Luis Bersamin in December 2006. The principal accused in this case was former Abra Governor Vicente Valera.
Cortez’s decision sparked indignation from several lawmakers who branded his recusal as “cowardice,” one of them even calling for his resignation from the judiciary.
On Dec.17, 2009 when Reyes learned that the celebrated mass murder case was re-raffled off to her, she did not hesitate to accept the task to try the gruesome murders of 58 people.
“What I can only say is that it was raffled to my sala, and I am ready to take over the case,” Reyes was quoted as telling then Philippine National Police deputy chief for operation Jefferson Soriano, who offered her police security personnel. But she turned down the offer for additional security.
On June 28, 2011, the Supreme Court issued a resolution exempting Reyes from the raffle and assignment of other cases and designated her sala as a “special court” dedicated to the Maguindanao massacre case trial.
In this way, said Court Administrator Midas Marquez, Reyes was provided “sufficient time and resources to focus and concentrate on the trial proceedings of the Maguindanao massacre cases and to decide the said cases with dispatch.”
To free up Reyes, the Court also designated assisting judges to help her dispose of the cases earlier assigned to her sala.
Marquez admitted that Judge Reyes encountered “many challenges” in the course of the trial because the case involves 197 accused and hundreds of witnesses, but he noted that the judge did not show any sign of hesitation.
“She may have felt that way but she never told me anything to that effect,” the Court Administrator said, noting that Reyes made requests, but mostly for additional staff.
Due to the sheer volume of the case records, Reyes sought additional researchers to help review documents, pleadings, and transcripts of proceedings to ensure that all bases were covered in making her decision.
During the trial, the judge did not agree to interviews.
Reyes started her stint in the judiciary on June 7, 2001 when she was appointed presiding judge of the Municipal Trial Court in Angeles City Branch 1, before she was promoted as a judge at the Quezon City regional trial court on Dec. 28, 2004.
Judge Reyes finished her college degree in journalism at the Lyceum of the Philippines. She pursued her study of law at the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law where she graduated in 1986. She passed the Bar Examinations in November 1987, with a grade of 80.80 percent.
From January to October 1987, she served as clerk II at the Institute for Labor Studies and became labor and development analyst of the same office from November 1987 up to September 1988.
In September 1998, she moved to the National Labor Relations Commission until August 1992 as a research attorney.
From August 1992 to February 1995, she joined the with the Public Attorney’s Office and she subsequently transferred to the Department of Justice as prosecutor I of the Olongapo City Prosecutor’s Office from March 1995 up to March 1996; prosecutor I of the Makati City Prosecutor’s Office from March 1996 to May 1998; and, prosecutor II of the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office from February 2000 up to June 2001.
In 2015, Judge Reyes applied for vacant posts at the Court of Appeals and Sandiganbayan but failed in her bid. Sources at the Supreme Court revealed that she was convinced and prevailed upon to temporarily set aside her aspirations until after the resolution of the Maguindanao massacre case because if she were appointed associate justice of the Court of Appeals or Sandiganbayan, this would further delay the case as a new judge would have to be tapped.