Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr. asked the court for one more week before before continuing the hearing on the Maguindanao massacre murder case.
“In his letter to Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Regional Trial Court Branch 221 in Taguig City, which was written in Filipino, Andal Jr. claimed their resources were depleted after years of paying for the cost of litigation. Thus, he explained he can no longer afford the acceptance fee of the lawyers he has talked to,” reports Reinir Padua and Non Alquitran in The Philippine Star.
Andal Jr. added that “his family had sold their vehicles and pieces of jewelry to sustain their daily needs.”
The report noted: “The court had given the accused until Tuesday, September 17, to avail of the services of a new counsel or a lawyer from the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) would be assigned to represent them. But Andal Jr. said he could not just entrust his case to a PAO lawyer and that he had a right to choose his counsel.”
As such, the judge granted Andal Jr.’s request for an extension.
Screengrab from a news clip
