Philippine prosecutors yesterday rejected an offer by a police officer accused of taking part in the massacre of 57 people — including more than 30 journalists — to testify against his superiors.
Police Inspector Michael Joy Macaraeg approached state prosecutors earlier this year offering to take the stand against fellow policemen accused in the nation’s worst political massacre.
However, Nena Santos, a lawyer representing some of the victims, said the prosecution did not need his help and Macaraeg should now hire his own lawyer.
“His testimony is no longer material to the case. He cannot qualify as a state witness,” Santos said.
Macaraeg had told prosecutors that in November last year he saw a local police chief lead officers to stop a convoy of vehicles in southern Maguindanao Province on the orders of a powerful local Muslim clan.
Fifty-seven people, including 32 journalists, were then abducted and murdered as part of an alleged plot by the Ampatuan clan to stop a rival’s bid for political power. Six clan members are also standing trial over the murders.
Macaraeg had alleged defendant Chief Inspector Sukarno Dicay and more than a dozen of his colleagues took part in the murders.
Santos said it was clear that Macaraeg has enough evidence to prove he did not plan the crime, but failed to provide enough information to help prosecutors nail the key defendants.
Macaraeg and Dicay are among 196 people accused of carrying out the murders allegedly led by Andal Ampatuan Jr, one of six Ampatuans detained in connection with the massacre.
More than 100 militiamen linked to the Ampatuan clan remain at large, and pose a threat to witnesses and families of the victims, human rights monitors say.
Eighty-one of the accused are in custody and 17 have so far gone on trial, including Ampatuan.
The Ampatuan clan had ruled Maguindanao for a decade and were known as key allies of then-Philippine president Gloria Arroyo, who was later forced to renounce the political alliance amid public outrage over the murders.
Amid concerns the trial could drag on for years, Judge Jocelyn Reyes yesterday ordered hearings to be conducted twice a week from next month.
“This is a hearing for 57 cases [murders]. I suggest you give this priority,” she said when one of the lawyers for the defendants said the new trial days, Wednesdays and Thursdays, would conflict with his schedule.
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