The judges gave the assurance after Judge Luisito Cortez of the RTC’s Branch 84 expressed fears for his family’s safety and backed out from handling the case.
Lawyer Gleo Guerra, Supreme Court deputy spokesperson, said there were judges in the QC RTC who were willing to handle the case and volunteered to be assigned to it.
Puno declined their offer because he wanted to follow the rule on raffling off cases after the SC allowed Cortez to inhibit himself from the 25 counts of murder filed against Ampatuan.
Fifty-seven people, including 30 journalists, were butchered in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao last Nov. 23.
Puno met yesterday with Cortez and the 22 other QC judges at the Quezon City Hall of Justice and ordered another raffle of the case at 2 p.m. today.
Puno told the judges during the meeting that the one picked in the second raffle will no longer be allowed to immediately inhibit.
“As I said to the judges, this is not only a challenge but also an opportunity for the judiciary to vindicate the trust of the people in our own system of justice,” Puno said.
“The Court allowed Judge Cortez to inhibit from handling the case, but it doesn’t mean that the Court accepted his reasons for inhibiting. It only means that the Court allowed the inhibition in the best interest of justice and so that the case would move forward,” Guerra explained.
She also hinted the possibility of the SC to consider the administrative liability of Cortez for refusing to accept the case assigned to him.
Cortez has reportedly cited security reasons in inhibiting himself from the murder case filed against Mayor Ampatuan and the other suspects.
He was quoted in radio reports saying he fears for the safety of his family and staff. “What is glory without a family,” he said.
Another job
Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera earlier sought the transfer of the case from Cotabato City to Quezon City after she complained of the inaction of the local courts in Maguindanao.
She dared Cortez to just look for another job if the reason for his inhibition was just fear of the powerful Ampatuan clan.
“If I were him (Judge Cortez), I would look for another job because I easily get frightened. That is unacceptable,” she said.
She stressed that the inhibition of Cortez only proved her claim that courts in Maguindanao were not functioning well to handle the massacre case.
“This is what I mean there is really problem with the courts. This is in Manila already, so you can imagine how judges in the province felt about this case,” she added.
She added that she would not file an administrative complaint against Cortez and will just leave the issue up to the SC.
Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said that the security problems of Judge Cortez now is the same concern experienced by the judges and court personnel of Maguindanao before martial law was imposed in the province.
“Now you see this judge of Quezon City in Metro Manila who doesn’t want to handle the case. He’s already in Metro Manila and yet he’s still afraid,” Remonde said.
“This should really prove to everybody what we have been saying for the longest time, that many are afraid of handling this case,” he added.
Cortez said that he inhibited himself from the case because of possible threats to his family.
“I would like to serve but there are other factors like family. I will explain my side to the Supreme Court,” he said referring to the possible administrative charges he will face in declining the case.
Cortez also reasoned out that he is currently handling 800 cases including the 2006 murder in Quezon City of Abra Rep. Luis Bersamin whose main suspect is former Abra Gov. Vicente Valera.
The 25 counts of murder initially filed against Mayor Ampatuan were raffled off last Tuesday and landed in the sala of Judge Cortez of Branch 84.
Mayor Ampatuan is now detained at the National Bureau of Investigation in Manila after he was taken into custody last Nov. 26, three days after the massacre.
The incident resulted to the killing of 57 people, including the wife of Vice Mayor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu of Buluan, Maguindanao and two of his sisters, two female lawyers and 30 mediamen who covered the supposed filing of certificate of candidacy of the vice mayor who is running for governor of Maguindanao to challenge a scion of the Ampatuan clan.
The Mangudadatus have blamed the Ampatuans for the incident, specifically pointing to Andal Jr. as the leaders of more than 100 armed men who abducted Mangudadatu’s supporters.
The Ampatuan family has denied any involvement in the killings.
President Arroyo declared martial law last Dec. 5 over Maguindanao to quell what security officials claimed was an ongoing rebellion in the province allegedly staged by the supporters of the Ampatuan clan implicated in the gruesome massacre.
Just hours after Mrs. Arroyo signed Proclamation 1959, government troops arrested clan patriarch former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his sons ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan, acting Maguindanao Gov. Sajid, Maguindanao Vice Gov. Akmad Ampatuan, Shariff Aguak Mayor Anwar Ampatuan, and Sangguniang Bayan member Cahoner Ampatuan. They were held for questioning for their alleged involvement in the massacre of 57 in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao.
Military and police units also seized high-powered guns, crew-served weapons, and assorted ammunition from several compounds owned by the Ampatuans.
The 70-year-old clan patriarch Andal Sr. was later indicted for rebellion in a Cotabato City court, along with 23 other clan members that included ARMM Gov. Ampatuan. Charges were also filed against more than 600 other followers of the Ampatuans.
The NBI will also file at the Department of Justice multiple murder charges against several other members of the Ampatuan clan.
President Arroyo lifted martial law in Maguindanao last Dec. 12; one week after military rule was declared.
The Supreme Court transferred the trial to Quezon City following security concerns over a high-profile trial in Cotabato City.
Court officials said that as soon as a new judge will be chosen in the raffle the arraignment would be scheduled in seven working days.
The hearing of the case would be held inside the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City to guarantee the security of court officers and witnesses in the case.
Meanwhile, former defense secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., standard-bearer of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD, vowed to help the families of the 57 victims of the massacre to attain justice, following the refusal of the QC judge to handle the case,
“If we can’t give them justice, then forget about being country, forget that we are a nation,” Teodoro told a consultative meeting with local officials and residents in Buluan, Maguindanao.
Teodoro flew to General Santos City from Manila and went to the Buluan town hall meeting.
“Again we go back to the need to enforce the law,” he said. “Once we have peace and security firmly in place, development and prosperity will naturally follow.”
Bangon Pilipinas presidential candidate Brother Eddie Villanueva said Cortez should resign for abandoning his duty when he refused to handle the trial of the Maguindanao massacre due to security concerns.
“Judges are supposed to be credible and unafraid to perform their duties. Judge Luisito Cortez might as well resign now that apparently he himself does not trust our own systems,” Villanueva said.
Senators hit QC judge
Senators slammed Judge Cortez for refusing to handle the Maguindanao massacre case.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said it was an act of cowardice.
“Kaduwagan yun (that’s cowardice). That’s the duty of the judge. If a case is raffled to him he has to handle it. If he cannot handle it, then he has to get the hell out of that (profession),” Enrile said.
Enrile added that the entire resources of government could help Cortez if he needed extra security for himself and his family.
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said that when she once served as a QC judge, she already accepted that the danger in her life comes with the territory.
“I feared for the safety of myself or my public enemy so I just went on. And I think that should be the attitude of every judge. You just have to go and discharge your duty, you applied for the post or at least accepted your appointment so you have to take the good or the bad,” Santiago said.
Santiago said every judge should exhibit strength and political will in doing their job.
A judge usually inhibits when one of the litigants or the lawyers are related to him or if he is severely ill and he asks for a paired judge.
Santiago added that “it’s very, very rare” for a judge to inhibit himself on the ground that his physical safety and those of his immediate family are in danger.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel said he was “so disgusted” by the attitude of Cortez.
“I think he should be sanctioned by the courts because to my mind that is a dereliction of duty। That should not be the case especially since there was an offer to provide adequate security. Di dapat nasa judiciary siya. I think the SC should take action, whatever appropriate sanction, should be imposed on him,” Pimentel said.
Report formWith Christina Mendez, Perseus Echeminada, Marvin Sy, Nonong Baliao - By Edu Punay (Philstar News Service, www।philstar.com)
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