By Philippine News Agency
A daughter of one of the 32 journalists who were killed in the gruesome Maguindanao massacre expressed concern over the weekend for the safety of their family, especially their mother.
Maria Priscilla Reblando-Zainal, daughter of slain Manila Bulletin reporter Alejandro “Bong†Reblando, claimed her mother, Myrna Reblando, is currently in “danger of getting killed allegedly on orders of the Ampatuan clan,†some members of whom were implicated in the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao.
Mrs. Reblando is the vice chairman of the Justice Now Movement, the association of the families of media victims in the infamous massacre and one of the most vocal in the group in calling for the conviction of former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and several other family members who were implicated in the killing.
Zainal said an uncle from her father’s side, a policeman, was assigned to a place in Manila where the Ampatuans have supporters and purportedly learned that there is a P3-million bribe offer for her mother to withdraw the case.
“If she will not agree, the money will be used as bounty for the head of my mom,†Zainal said in an electronic mail.
To further complicate their safety concerns, Zainal said the Butuyan and Roque Law Firm has filed a petition before the Court of Appeals for the inhibition of the judge hearing the petitions of Zaldy Ampatuan, suspended governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and his cousin Akmad Ampatuan, former mayor of Mamasapano town, to be excluded from the case.
Early this month, the Court of Appeals’ Special 11th Division junked the petition of the Ampatuan patriarch, Andal Sr., to be excluded from the massacre case.
The elder Ampatuan is currently detained at a maximum prison facility in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig, along with son Andal Jr, the former mayor of Datu Unsay town who allegedly led the more than 100 gunmen in brutally killing the victims.(PNA)
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