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Fifty eight persons, 32 of them from the media, are massacred by armed men led by Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. in Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, in the worst pre-election violence in Philippine history.
It took ten years and one month for the lower court to hand down its verdict in December 2017, finding the Ampatuan siblings and other principals and accessories guilty of the 2009 massacre of 57 persons, 32 of them media workers, in Ampatuan, Maguindanao.
In her 761-page decision, Judge Reyes found the Ampatuan brothers Andal Jr., Zaldy and Anwar, and 25 other principals guilty beyond reasonable doubt for 57 counts of murder.
The court did not consider Reynaldo Momay, photographer of Midland Review in Tacurong, as the 58th victim because “whether Momay died or was missing” after November 23, 2009 “could not be ascertained as no evidence of his actual death was adduced. He has no cadaver and neither was his death certificate presented on record.”
Momay’s daughter Reynafe Castillo, has appealed the decision on the criminal and civil aspects.
Forty three of the accused were convicted, 28 of them principals while 56 were acquitted.
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