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SOUTHEAST ASIAN INSTITUTIONS RACE TOWARD DIGITIZATION IN FULFILLMENT OF ASEAN ICT MASTER PLAN 2020
By Roderick L. Abad | Contributor
ECAUSE the digital era continues to reshape how public and private organizations operate, they are challenged to start capitalizing on the potential of data to stay relevant in the coming years. Continued on A2
CA allows 16 cops in Ampatuan Massacre to walk
T
By Joel R. San Juan
HE Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed the grant of bail to 16 policemen who were among the 198 accused in the gruesome case now known as the Ampatuan Massacre in Maguindanao, where 58 people, including 32 journalists, were killed in November 2009. In a 12-page decision penned by Associate Justice Jhosep Y. Lopez, the CA Tenth Division denied the petition filed by government prosecutors seeking the reversal of the order issued by Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Quezon City Branch 221 Presiding Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes on October 13, 2014, which granted the petition for bail filed by the 16 accused police officers (PO) who were members of the 1508th Provincial Mobile Group (PMG).
Granted bail were PO1 Heirich Amaba, PO3 Rasid Anton, PO3 Felix Enate, PO1 Esprielito Lejarso, PO1 Narkouk Mascud, SPO1 Eduardo Hong, PO2 Saudi Pasuta, PO1 Arnulfo Soriano, PO1 Pia Kamidon, PO3 Abibudin Abdulgani, PO2 Hamad Nana, PO1 Esmael Guilal, SPO1 Oscar Donato, PO1 Abdullah Baguadatu, PO2 Saudiar Ulah and P/Insp. Michael Joy Macaraeg. Reyes, in granting their bail applications, noted that none of
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Policemen look at the mangled remains of a van that was unearthed on November 25, 2009, at the massacre site in Ampatuan, Maguindanao. AP
the testimonies or exhibits presented by the prosecution had particularly linked and identified the police officers to the relevant times and places surrounding the alleged
killing of the victims. In seeking the reversal of the trial court’s order, government prosecutors held that the judge committed grave abuse of discre-
tion and acted in excess of jurisdiction in granting the petition for bail of the accused. It noted that the judge limited herself to the testimonies of only
13 of the 35 prosecution witnesses and disregarded other undisputed and material facts, which would warrant the dismissal of the bail petition. The prosecution insisted that it presented strong evidence sufficient to establish the guilt of the accused in the Maguindanao massacre. In upholding the trial court’s ruling, the CA explained that in applications for bail, the trial court merely conducts summary hearing to determine whether the guilt of the accused is strong. “In this case, far from being despotic and arbitrary, we find nothing improper or irregular on the part of public respondent judge when she confined herself to the 13 testimonies of the prosecution witnesses, which, in her evaluation, are essential to the purpose of the bail hearing and no longer touched on the testimonies of the other witnesses, which failed to identify or mention the private respondents,” the CA explained. “Hence, if public respondent judge has determined that only a number of witnesses has a direct bearing to the bail applications, it See “Ampatuan,” A2
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Source: BSP (25 August 2017 )