SC grants QC judge request for one month more to resolve Maguindanao massacre

November 8, 2019

The Supreme Court has granted the request of Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 for one more month to resolve the 2009 Maguindanao massacre.

This means Reyes will have under December 22 to render a decision on the decade-old case where 58 people were killed.

"There are so many accused and victims. We allowed her to have an extension of one month. We hope she won't ask another extension," said Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta  on Friday in his first press conference as top magistrate.

Reyes submitted for decision the Maguindanao massacre case last August after conducting trial of over 190 accused for ten years.

Under Administrative Circular No. 3-99, once a case has been submitted for resolution, the court has 90 days to set the promulgation of the case.

In the Maguindanao massacre case, the 90 days should be within this month but Reyes wrote a letter to the Supreme Court asking for 30-day extension due to voluminous records that needed to be studied.

Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez said he sent to Reyes the SC decision to grant her request.

“Please be reminded, however, that you are hereby granted a non-extendible period of 30 days from 20 November 2019, or until 20 December 2019, within which to decide the criminal cases,” he added.

Peralta acknowledged the complexity of resolving the Maguindanao massacre case .

“I was a fiscal, I was a judge.  This is my first time to hear cases involving so many victims. I think in the last century, I have yet to hear cases involving massacre of so many people. The accused are all entitled to what we called due process,” Peralta said, when asked if he was disappointed that the trial of the case dragged for a decade.

“But we adopted several ways in order to fast track the resolution of cases. It’s good that the parties agreed to these tools that were adopted by Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes in order to as early as possible resolve the cases,” the chief justice added.

“I am frustrated of what happened to the victims. But I think Judge Reyes did her best in order to give justice to the victims and also in order to afford the accused the required due process of law under the constitution,” he said.

The Office of the Court Administrator required Judge Reyes to submit to Marquez a copy of the decision of the Maguindanao massacre case within 10 days from promulgation “as proof of your compliance with your undertaking to decide the cases within the period requested.”

There are 197 suspects who were initially charged for the massacre, which claimed the lives of 58 people including 32 media practitioners.

A total of 117 people have been arrested, including prominent members of the Ampatuan clan. Seven died while in detention, including former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. 

Charges against nine have been dropped, including the three who were allowed to become state witnesses. Eleven are out on bail, while 80 remain at large. DMS