SC to act on Mamasapano trial transfer

FILE: Supreme Court of the Philippines (Photo: Philippine News Agency)

MANILA — The Supreme Court is set to tackle the transfer of trial of the criminal case over the Mamasapano clash that killed more than 60 persons, including 44 members of the elite Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF).

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has earlier requested the high court to transfer the Mamasapano cases from Shariff Aguak Maguindanao Regional Trial Court Branch 15 to a Metro Manila court.

Based on the timeline released by the SC-Public Information Office on Friday, Aguirre sent a letter on January 12 last year to the Court En Banc through the Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ) requesting the transfer of the prosecution of the cases from Cotabato to Manila.

Under the applicable procedure, considering that the request involves the lower courts, the OCJ wrote an endorsement letter dated Feb. 9, 2017, which was sent to the Court Administrator on Feb. 13, 2017 and was received by the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) on Feb. 14, 2017, while the OCA referred the request to its Legal Office (OCA Legal) on March 3, 2017.

The SC said that there were procedures on the matter of transferring the trial to Metro Manila compared to the transfer of the case of detained Maute members facing rebellion charges to Metro Manila, which was acted on due to security concerns and ongoing rebellion in Marawi City.

“The difference in the action taken by the OCJ in the transfer of venue request involving the prosecutions arising from the Maute takeover in Marawi City can be explained by the existence of ongoing violence in Marawi City. In the Maute request, the OCJ directly endorsed this to the Court En Banc without referring it to the OCA because of the ongoing violence in Marawi City and the need to take immediate action; in the request for transfer of venue in the Mamasapano incident, the OCJ followed the standard procedure of referring the matter to the OCA because there were no ongoing hostilities,” the SC said.

Follow-up letter

Acting Prosecutor General Jorge Catalan Jr. submitted a follow-up letter to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, through Court Administrator Midas Marquez on December 7 last year, reiterating the justice department’s request for the transfer of venue.

“To date, the Supreme Court has not resolved the prosecution’s request for the transfer of venue of the case from Cotabato City to Metro Manila,” the DOJ case report stated.

The high court said the follow-up letter was endorsed by the OCJ, as per procedure, in a letter dated Dec. 7 2017 and was received by the OCA on the same date as the Court Administrator sent a recommendation dated Jan. 15, 2018 to the Clerk of Court En Banc on Jan.

25, 2018.

Based on the OCA recommendation sent to the Office of the Clerk of Court En Banc last January 25, the hearing on the Mamasapano cases should be relocated to Metro Manila, particularly in Taguig City.

“The OCA recommendation was received by the Office of the Clerk of Court En Banc on Jan.

25, 2018. This matter will be raffled to a member-in-charge who will then make a recommendation to the Court En Banc,” the SC said.

Arrest warrants were issued by the trial court against the accused on Jan. 25, 2017, but the trial of the case had not started due to pending motions for judicial determination of probable cause by some of the accused.

One of the persons accused, Samsudin Upam, urged the court to quash his arrest warrant.

The 88 accused — identified by a star witness known only by the code name “Marathon” and 11 other individuals — belong to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, its splinter group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, and private armed groups.

Only the deaths of 35 members of the 55th SAF-Special Action Company who were killed by the rebels in a clash at a corn field in Barangay Tukanalipao in Mamasapano were covered by the case.

The case is for the complex crime of direct assault with murder against 88 members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and private armed groups (PAGs) in connection to the Jan. 25, 2015 Mamasapano incident which led to the deaths of 44 members of the SAF along with international terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, a.k.a. Marwan.

On Jan. 25, 2015, the slain police commandos were deployed to Mamasapano to capture wanted terrorists Marwan and Abdul Basit Usman.

Marwan, a Malaysian bomb maker with a bounty from the US government, was killed during the operations.

The operation resulted in the death of Marwan but also sparked a fierce encounter that claimed the lives of SAF members. (PNA)