Guilty verdict on 57 Ampatuan massacre victims’ killers welcomed; kin of ‘58th victim’ still cry for justice

Jail guards stand next to a crowd of accused waiting the promulgation at the trial venue inside a prison facility at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City. | Inquirer.net — SC-PIO via AP

CAGAYAN DE ORO— There was euphoria among the families as the Quezon Regional Trial Court handed down the guilty beyond reasonable doubt sentence for the 57 victims of the Ampatuan massacre.

“ I thank God for hearing our prayers,” Cathy Nunez, mother of UNTV reporter Victor Nunez said.

Nunez said she had waited for this moment for the last ten years ever since she saw the mangled body of her son at a funeral parlor in Koronadal City.

She said she was satisfied of the decision handed down by Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes.

“I never expected it to be a hundred percent conviction rate but I am satisfied the real killers was found guilty,” Nunez said.

“I think most of the families also accepted the decision. Those who planned and decided to kill should be punished,” she added.

A total of 28 people were convicted for the worst crime against journalists but the court found 55 people not guilty and ordered them to be released.

Judge Reyes reading only the dispositive portion of the 761-page document, sentenced 28 people to reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment without parole.

Read more: BREAKING: Andal Ampatuan Jr., kin guilty for Maguindanao massacre of 57 people

Reyes found former Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy Ampatuan and his sibling, Datu Andal Jr., guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

Also convicted were Datu Anwar Sajid Ampatuan, Datu Anwar Ampatuan and 19 others including Police Major Sukarno Dicay, commander of the 15th PNP Regional Mobile Group; Police Col. Abusama Mundas Maguid, officer in charge of the Maguindanao police; and Superintendent Bahnarin Kamaong.

Reyes said these persons were guilty for 57 counts of murder—each for every victim of the massacre.

The decision was silent on the 58th victim, the so called “forgotten victim,” Reynaldo Momay, a phojournalist, whose body has yet to be found after 10 years.

His daughter, Reynafe Momay Castillo, who migrated to the US, could not be reached for her comment.

In her Face book wall, Reynafe wrote “SAD DAY FOR ME AND MY FAMILY. JUSTICE FOR MY DAD! #58”.

Lawyer Rommel Regalado Bagares of Center Law office, who help looked for the body of Momay, said they found only a set of dentures that belonged to Momay.

He said a dental technician testified that he was the one who made the dentures for Momay.

“There was no body, no corpus delicti. But there was an unbroken chain of circumstantial evidence placing him on that ill-fated convoy, up to the very last hour,” Bagares said.

Bagares said a journalist, Joseph Jubelag, testified that he saw Momay joined the convoy that was ambushed by the Ampatuans./dbs