Herminio “Harry” Roque Jr. PNA File Photo.
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By URIEL C. QUILINGUING
Contributing Editor .

WHATEVER decision the judge promulgates on the 58 counts of murder against the 197 persons accused in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre next month, judicial remedies thereafter may still take 10 more years before the verdict can achieve finality, according to lawyer Herminio “Harry” Roque Jr. in a news conference here Saturday. 

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Roque, who reassumed as lead legal counsel of the families of the Maguindanao victims after an aborted senatorial bid in May this year, was in this city to update media practitioners in time for the 10th anniversary of the world’s worst single attack on journalists. 

Two relatives of the victims who joined him in the news conference were Catherine Nuñez, mother of Victor who was a reporter of UNTV of the Progressive Broadcasting Corp. based in Cagayan de Oro, and Arlene Lupogan, wife of Lindo who was Agusan del Sur reporter of Davao City’s Mindanao Daily Gazette. 

Victor Nuñez and Lindo Lupogan were among the 32 journalists who were killed and dumped in a mass grave, along with 26 others, in the municipality of Ampatuan, Maguindanao in 2009.  

The latest, he said, was that the Supreme Court granted the 30-day extension request of presiding judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the regional trial court branch 221 from Nov. 20 to Dec. 20 this year for her to rule on the mass murder case. 

Roque, however, said the verdict Solis-Reyes would render is not final since the country’s judicial system allows the accused to exhaust all legal remedies.  

“Hindi pa po final yan. Yan po ang depekto ng ating systema, sampung taon sa RTC (Regional Trial Court) pa lang yan, mayroon pa sigurong limang taon sa Court of Appeals, at limang taon na man sa Supreme Court,” said the former presidential spokesperson, adding that adequate and speedy trial should, at most, last only for six months.

He, however, said Judge Solis-Reyes should not be faulted for the delay because she is just working in a defective system, adding that she is the best judge for the case and that he does not doubt her integrity and competence.  

Roque dared media workers to help in creating public outrage and protest against a judicial system that perpetuates the dictum, justice delayed is justice denied, because the five pillars of the justice system are not working—community, law enforcement, prosecution, courts, and corrections.

Until now, 80 of the suspects are still at large and this, he said, is the failure of law enforcement or police, some of them refuse to sign affidavits even if they already witnessed the commission of the crime. 

Roque said once more suspects—out of the 80—are arrested, cases would be filed against them and court trials will once again start. For now, the court has no jurisdiction over them, hence they were not included in the court deliberations. 

“Tinanggap natin ang sampong taon sa RTC kasi kinunsinti natin. Hindi ito katanggap-tanggap! Magalit na tayo!” said the former University of the Philippines law professor who also served for a term as a partylist representative. 

He said the Maguindanao mass murder should be used as a test case in pushing for massive reforms in the judicial system in the country, adding that the world is closely watching how the Philippine justice system would deal with it. 

Earlier, Nuñez and Lupogan were in a candle-lighting ceremony at the iconic Press Freedom Monument the local chapter of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines organized to commemorate the 10th year of Ampatuan massacre. 

Cagayan de Oro-based journalists who are affiliated with the NUJP, the Cagayan de Oro Press Club and the Philippine National Police-10 Press Corps, troop to the monument every 23rd day of the month since December 2009, to remember and offer prayers for the slain media workers.

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