PHILIPPINES: The Philippines is aiming to speed up convictions in the country’s worst political massacre to ensure justice amid fears the trial could drag on for years, the country’s top justice official said.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the government wants judgments against the Ampatuan clan, accused of being behind the murder of 58 people in 2009.
“The marching orders of the president is that during his term up to 2016, there’s got to be convictions,” de Lima said.
She concedes it may be impossible to convict all the suspects but hopes they can at least get the “principal accused”.
The prosecution has so far completed presenting evidence and the testimonies of 130 witnesses to pin down clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr and other family members for the massacre.
She said the government viewed the Ampatuan massacre “as the single most important case” that needed to be resolved to show the public it was serious in ending a culture of impunity afflicting the country.
“It is a litmus test for the government. If we fail to get convictions (by 2016), the public will be very disappointed because that will mean that wheels of justice in this country really grind so slowly.”
AFP
