Why Justice is hard to get?

Among the principal accused in the infamous Maguindanao massacre, former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr., passed away on Friday.

As death  extinguished any criminal liability, the 58 counts of murder against the patriarch of the Ampatuan clan will have to be dismissed. But a number of his sons and relatives, including as well as members of their clan's supposed private army and the local police, will continue to stand trial for the carnage  in Maguindanao in November 2009.

What is unfortunate is that the trial has proceeded at a snail's pace for the last six years after the gruesome incident. More than a hundred of the original 197 suspects have been arraigned, and all, including Ampatuan and his sons, Andal Jr. and Zaldy, pleaded not guilty.

The delay in the court proceedings can be partly traced to the various legal moves taken by defense lawyers to shield their clients from a guilty verdict. But the judicial process itself may be at fault for the snail's pace considering that the number of accused—nearly 200—makes it next-to-impossible for the court to render an early judgment. After all, the accused are entitled to due process and to avail of all legal remedies despite the gravity of the charges against them.

Some lawyers argue that the trial may be speeded up by dropping the murder charges against those considered as accessories to the crime and concentrating only on the key respondents, or the masterminds, namely the Ampatuans. The Supreme Court, if we're not mistaken, has tried to speed up the process by assigning two other judges to assist the main judge already handling the case. But it appears that's the only thing that the High Court can do a this point, or else it would be accused of undue haste in resolving the case.

Still, we believe that the judiciary can still do much more so that justice can be served soon enough for the 58 victims of the massacre, including 32 journalists. Six years is a long time to wait for justice in this particular case. The longer it takes, the more that our people will realize that justice delayed is justice denied. -End-

Image by: NewsCentral.ph