Backhoe operator dropped as state witness

THE ALLEGED backhoe operator in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre has been dropped as a prosecution witness and will instead be charged as one of the 195 accused.

State prosecutors have asked a Quezon City court to immediately arraign Bong Andal who allegedly dug the mass grave the massacre victims were buried in using a backhoe.

Prosecution panel head Archimedes Manabat said their decision to drop Andal as a witness had to do with the court testimony of state witness Sukarno Badal.

Unnecessary

In a motion to withdraw its petition to exclude Andal as an accused in the 2009 carnage filed in the court of Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes, state prosecutors said Andal’s offer to testify for the prosecution had become unnecessary.

“After thoughtful consideration that the matters he (Andal) would have testified to had already been covered by the testimony given in open court on Feb. 14, 20, 21 and 27 by Badal, who was recently dropped and excluded from the information, the panel of public prosecutors reached a decision not to present Andal as a witness anymore.”

Members of the Ampatuan family, the primary accused in the massacre, had rejected the bid of Andal to turn state’s evidence, claiming the Maguindanao provincial government employee and backhoe operator was disqualified under the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act.

No absolute necessity

“There is no absolute necessity for Bong Andal’s testimony. The prosecution has presented at least four alleged eyewitnesses, the character of whose testimonies were confirmed by this honorable Court. The alleged eyewitnesses had testified on the supposed planning and coverup of the massacre,” they had argued.

The state prosecutors further asked Reyes, who presides over Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221, to expunge their petition to discharge Andal as an accused from the court records and asked that the backhoe operator be detained at the QC Jail Annex at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

Meanwhile, Reyes scheduled the arraignment of four of the 195 accused in the Maguindanao massacre on Wednesday at the makeshift court in Camp Bagong Diwa.

Reyes directed the warden of the Quezon City Jail Annex to make sure that former Mamasapano town councilman Talembo Masukat, Dexson Saptula, Norhato Kamino, and Abedin Alamada were present for their arraignment.