TWO magistrates of the Court of Appeals (CA) want no part in deciding the petition filed by former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan in connection with his involvement in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre case.
Justices Danton Bueser and Marlene Gonzales-Sison recused themselves from hearing the case in the 11th division of the appellate court just as they did earlier in a similar case involving Zaldy's father, Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr.
The two magistrates granted the motion for inhibition filed by families of some victims represented by lawyer Harry Roque Jr. last Feb.
"The voluntary recusal of Associate Justices Bueser and Gonzales-Sison from the first case and their active participation in the present case is, at the very least, highly unusual, considering that both cases deal with the same incident, the same facts, and the same legal controversy," Roque had argued.
Two other justices were picked during raffle yesterday to take their place in the CA division of five – Senior
Associate Justice Josefina Salonga and Romeo Barza.
Salonga and Barza join Associate Justices Noej Tijam, Jose Reyes Jr. and Mario Guarina III in resolving the petition of Ampatuan seeking to nullify the resolution of Department of Justice approving his indictment for the carnage.
The Supreme Court (SC) earlier ordered CA Presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr. to investigate allegations of
bribery and irregularity against Justices Bueser and Sison by widows of media men killed in the massacre who had also sought their inhibition.###
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