Got a tip? Send it to us at manila@coconuts.co.
The camp of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has claimed victory in one of the many cases filed against her.
This time, it’s over the Maguindanao massacre of 2009.
Atty. Ferdinand Topacio said in a statement that the regional trial court in Quezon City dismissed, for “lack of cause of action,” a PHP12-million civil damage suit filed by relatives of the victims of the Maguindanao massacre against the former president.
Topacio represented Arroyo in the civil suit.
According to Topacio, the judge on the case ruled that the complaint, “failed to state and establish the connection between the issuance by (Arroyo) of Executive Order 549,” which deputized barangay tanods and other local officials as a “force multiplier” for the government’s anti-insurgency campaign, “and the Maguindanao Massacre, as well as the basis of their claims that the same legalized the private army of the Ampatuans.”
Topacio also said that the court further ruled that the plaintiffs filed the complaint “without alleging the specific acts and omissions” by the former president, which violated the plaintiff’s rights.
The plaintiffs were represented by Atty. Harry Roque.
Text: RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News
Photo: News clip
This article has been re-published with permission from ABS-CBNnews.com.
