DOJ exec to sue Mangudadatu
The Department of Justice (DOJ) official earlier accused of receiving bribes from the Ampatuans in the Maguindanao massacre case is planning to take legal action against Maguindanao Gov. Ismael Mangudadatu and several others over the allegation.
DOJ Undersecretary Francisco Baraan said he is considering filing several criminal charges against Mangudadatu, his lawyer Nena Santos and their cohorts – including perjury – after witness Jerramy Joson recanted her earlier statement that the official received millions from the camp of the principal accused in the multiple murder case.
“All options are now being carefully studied,” he told reporters.
“I cannot forgive Santos and her cohorts. They will be made to answer for their madness. I will be meeting with Atty. Harry Roque, Deputy Senior State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon, and the Ampatuan pannel of prosecutors to discuss our legal moves,” Baraan added.
Asked if he would also study possible charges against the governor, the DOJ official replied: “Certainly. This was an operation mainly directed at me, and he (Mangudadatu) is centrally mentioned by Joson.”
The others mentioned in Joson’s latest affidavit were lawyer Gemma Oquendo and Mangudadatu’s brother, Maguindanao Rep. Zajid Mangudadatu, who allegedly provided her a safe house in Davao at the height of the controversy last year.
In a five-page affidavit she personally submitted to the DOJ last Friday, Joson claimed she was used by the governor’s camp in a supposed bid to remove Baraan as supervising official of the DOJ panel prosecuting the case.
Joson said she concocted charges against Baraan and some prosecutors through a notebook carrying the records of the amounts paid by the Ampatuans to the DOJ officials upon the orders of Santos and Oquendo.
She said she was chosen for the demolition job since she was once close to Arnel Manaloto, a former Ampatuan lawyer who was reportedly used by the Ampatuan clan as a dummy to hide their properties.
Joson said she has withdrawn the graft and corruption charges she filed against Baraan before the Office of the Ombudsman.
No knowledge
Mangudadatu yesterday denied allegations that he and Santos orchestrated the fabrication of a notebook containing bribery allegations against the government prosecutors handling the Maguindanao massacre case.
“With all honesty, I did not know anything about that notebook until it came out in media reports,” Mangudadatu said in a text message to The STAR.
He said Santos was not even aware of Joson before the controversy broke out.
“Perhaps this is part of the ongoing efforts by ‘ unseen’ hands designed to make me look bad in the eyes of the public,” said the governor, whose wife and sisters died in the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre.
Santos denied Joson’s allegations, saying that she believes Joson was “paid” to recant.
“I was informed by one of the lawyers from the Ampatuan side that she had debts from Manaloto before and that coming out in the open was a way of getting more money from them,” she said.
Roque – whose mobile phone number was written in the notebook alongside the words P10 million and car, said he felt vindicated by Joson’s recantation.