Villar, Legarda join calls for review of Agra order

Nacionalista Party presidential standard-bearer Manuel Villar Jr. and running mate Loren Legarda on Monday joined calls for Justice Secretary Alberto Agra to reconsider his order absolving two members of the Ampatuan family in the Maguindanao massacre last year. In a statement, Villar vowed to push the reopening of the case against suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan and Mamasapano Mayor Akmad Ampatuan Sr., saying the order was issued "with unconvincing haste and without credible basis." "I will seek the reopening of the murder case against Zaldy and Akmad Ampatuan if I am elected President. We should ensure that justice is served convincingly and that the Department of Justice, as government prosecutor in this case, [will] exhaust all means to achieve that end," the senator said. Senator Legarda said the decision should have been left with the courts. "Given the political context of this case, the DOJ… shouldn't have initiated the dropping of the case against the two accused… It makes it too apparent that it is choosing sides," she said in a separate statement. Villar said reopening the case against the two Ampatuans would put the recent DOJ decision under review and see if Agra had acted beyond the bounds of his duties. "The DOJ should have just allowed the courts to clear the two Ampatuans if there was legal basis to do so, instead of deciding on its own and on its level. It gives us the impression that the fight for justice in this case has been lost even before it has begun," he said. "Its recent decision tells us that it is either being injudicious in its disposition of the case or it is playing its part in frustrating the administration of justice for the families of the victims," he added. Legarda said the DOJ’s attitude on the case perpetrates the culture of impunity that has made the Philippines the world’s deadliest place for journalists. — Amita Legaspi/Jacques I. Jimeno/NPA, GMANews.TV