Philippine court to rule on 2009 political massacre

By Eloisa Lopez and Karen Lema
MANILA, Dec 19 (Reuters) - A judge in the Philippines
prepared to deliver a verdict on Thursday on the massacre a
decade ago of 58 people, among them 32 journalists, in one of
the country's most high-profile cases and its worst single
instance of election violence.
Three generations of a political clan accused of
masterminding the 2009 killings are among 101 defendants
awaiting judgement, in a case seen as a crucial test of impunity
in country where provincial power is often decided by
corruption, intimidation and violence.
Seven members of the influential Ampatuan family are accused
of conspiring to ambush the convoy of a rival clan as it
travelled to register its candidate for a gubernatorial election
in the southern province of Maguindanao, an attack that
spiralled into a bloodbath.
Among the casualties were the wife and relatives of the
rival candidate, lawyers and 32 media workers, who were executed
beside a rural road in a volley of gunfire, before being buried
with their vehicles in a huge pit dug by an excavator.
It was one of the world's single, biggest attacks on
journalists. The defendants deny charges of multiple counts of
murder and face up to 30 years in jail for each one.
There were 357 witnesses and 197 suspects, 80 of those still
at large, including 12 Ampatuans. The family patriarch, Andal
Ampatuan, died in prison of a heart attack in 2015.
Five other Ampatuan family members and 54 police are also on
trial and lawyers for the families said a guilty verdict would
be crucial for Philippine democracy.
"We are rooting for a conviction no more, no less," Nena
Santos, a private prosecutor in the case, told reporters.
"This is very important because if no conviction here it
would mean the impunity continues, press freedom is dead and the
democratic process is at stake."
The judge and lawyers were in discussions about how much of
the verdict to read out from its more than 700 pages.
The attack, known as the "Maguindanao Massacre", was
chilling even by Philippine standards, where political
assassinations are commonplace in elections for mayors,
governors and even congress. Several witnesses in the case have
been killed.
Muslim-dominated parts of the southern Philippines are
notoriously violent, prone to lawlessness, separatist unrest and
the rule of warlords aided by an abundance of arms.
Human Rights Watch said that regardless of the verdict,
suspects on the run must be caught.
"The families of Maguindanao victims and witnesses will be
at risk so long as suspects remain free," said Phil Robertson,
the group's deputy Asia director.

(Writing by Karen Lema and Martin Petty
Editing by Robert Birsel)