From abs-cbnNEWS.com
Department of Justice Secretary Alberto Agra on Wednesday reversed his April 16 resolution absolving two leaders of the Ampatuan clan from the November 23 Maguindanao massacre.
Statement of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines
The reversal of the resolution is, doubtless, a welcome development. No thanks, however, to Agra.
Indeed, if anything, all credit for the reversal should go to the families of the victims, their lawyers, the media community, and not least, the state prosecutors and the people in general who rightly railed against the obscenity of what could have been nothing but another ham-fisted attempt by this administration to let political expediency trump the rule of law, as it has done throughout its nine years of existence.
It was clear, as the prosecutors themselves pointed out, that there was no way Agra’s original resolution clearing the two Ampatuans could have been based on his supposed appreciation of the voluminous evidence a mere day after meeting with some of the victims’ relatives to assure them that he had yet to make up his mind.
The immediate and rousing anger that greeted his original decision were a clear enough signal that we would not be robbed of justice for this grievous crime, not just against the press, for whom the Ampatuan massacre was the single worst attack in history, but against the Filipino people and humanity.
If anything, he and his masters really had no choice. Anything short of reversal would have undoubtedly unleashed a firestorm that would sweep them away.
In a 30-page resolution, Agra said he changed his decision after assessing new evidence, including a new witness who testified that suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Datu Zaldy Ampatuan and acting vice governor of Maguindanao, Datu Akmad “Tato” Ampatuan, participated in a meeting the night before the massacre where the decision was taken to stop the Mangudadatus from filing a certificate of candidacy.
