Witness of truth, not witness of State
July 12, 2011 Press Statement of NPC President Jerry S. Yap
If former Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Zaldy Ampatuan is indeed innocent of the massacre of 57 persons including 32 journalists on November 23, 2009, he must be bold as a lion, tell his truth and face all fears, adversities and uncertainties.
One person who is by his lonesome powerful and feared even when handcuffed, moneyed in and out of jail, believed to be holding the key to the moneybag of his clan, being charged for extraordinary crimes that shocked the world, now experiencing extreme humiliation at its worst for being pointed at as one of the architects of that most brutal act along with his father, the one orchestrating moves that have delayed the reading of the charges against him and others for more than a year now, is one man who does not deserve the trust of the media and the public.
Most likely, he is a tamed lion turning ferocious when free. He will most likely take revenge for all the shame that has brought down the clan’s name to destruction beyond repair.
If Zaldy wants the people to believe otherwise, he should remove all the delays he has caused.
After all, he has nothing to fear if he thinks he is innocent.
One thing is sure. The trial that he should be going through is brought live before the public watching online with the Supreme Court obviously closely monitoring and supervising for any little misstep or misdeed.
With this circumstance, Zaldy has nothing to fear for injustice. But he has to accept the fate of an accused in his country where the wheel turns slow. That is if he still believes the Philippines is his country.
If Zaldy thinks he loves his people and has worked for them. He should think of becoming a true hero. He should know that all heroes faced death or jail. He has to endure all the trials of life and politics. He must act like national hero Jose Rizal who braved all the untruths pronounced by a Spanish kangaroo court and faced all the bullets fired at the Bagumbayan.
If he thinks he is innocent when the public and the media believe otherwise, Zaldy does not need to be removed from the list of the accused.
He failed the State Witness Protection test. There is no showing he is the least guilty. There is no showing that his testimonies are indispensable to secure the conviction of all other accused. There is no showing that his testimonies can be corroborated by other witnesses on all material points. Additionally, Zaldy has not shown how he can testify for the massacre when he is repeatedly insisting he was not there and that he was in Malacañang.
All he has to do is to stop blocking the reading of the charges against him by withdrawing his petition before the Court of Appeals that seeks to remove him from the list of the accused, help to speed up the trial by removing all the obstacles put up by his lawyers, use his money to protect his own family, rest assured that justice is served on him, and believe that his truth shall set him free.
There is no need to turn him into a state witness if he wants to be honest in his testimonies.
He can be a witness for truth. He does not need to be protected by the State to testify.
Witness of truth,
not witness of State
If former Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Zaldy Ampatuan is indeed innocent of the massacre of 57 persons including 32 journalists on November 23, 2009, he must be bold as a lion, tell his truth and face all fears, adversities and uncertainties.
One person who is by his lonesome powerful and feared even when handcuffed, moneyed in and out of jail, believed to be holding the key to the moneybag of his clan, being charged for extraordinary crimes that shocked the world, now experiencing extreme humiliation at its worst for being pointed at as one of the architects of that most brutal act along with his father, the one orchestrating moves that have delayed the reading of the charges against him and others for more than a year now, is one man who does not deserve the trust of the media and the public.
Most likely, he is a tamed lion turning ferocious when free. He will most likely take revenge for all the shame that has brought down the clan’s name to destruction beyond repair.
If Zaldy wants the people to believe otherwise, he should remove all the delays he has caused.
After all, he has nothing to fear if he thinks he is innocent.
One thing is sure. The trial that he should be going through is brought live before the public watching online with the Supreme Court obviously closely monitoring and supervising for any little misstep or misdeed.
With this circumstance, Zaldy has nothing to fear for injustice. But he has to accept the fate of an accused in his country where the wheel turns slow. That is if he still believes the Philippines is his country.
If Zaldy thinks he loves his people and has worked for them. He should think of becoming a true hero. He should know that all heroes faced death or jail. He has to endure all the trials of life and politics. He must act like national hero Jose Rizal who braved all the untruths pronounced by a Spanish kangaroo court and faced all the bullets fired at the Bagumbayan.
If he thinks he is innocent when the public and the media believe otherwise, Zaldy does not need to be removed from the list of the accused.
He failed the State Witness Protection test. There is no showing he is the least guilty. There is no showing that his testimonies are indispensable to secure the conviction of all other accused. There is no showing that his testimonies can be corroborated by other witnesses on all material points. Additionally, Zaldy has not shown how he can testify for the massacre when he is repeatedly insisting he was not there and that he was in Malacañang.
All he has to do is to stop blocking the reading of the charges against him by withdrawing his petition before the Court of Appeals that seeks to remove him from the list of the accused, help to speed up the trial by removing all the obstacles put up by his lawyers, use his money to protect his own family, rest assured that justice is served on him, and believe that his truth shall set him free.
There is no need to turn him into a state witness if he wants to be honest in his testimonies.
He can be a witness for truth. He does not need to be protected by the State to testify.
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