Ampatuan Released On P11.6 Million Bail

Ampatuan posts bail

Photo Credit: CNN.com

The Quezon City Regional Trial Court, the court trying the 2009 Maguindanao massacre case has ordered the immediate release of Sajid Islam Ampatuan, son of former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr., and one of the primary suspects in the case after posting the required P11.6 million bail, according to a report by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Reports say that the order arrived two months after the court granted Ampatuan’s petition for bail in January 2015.

According to the Inquirer, Sajid Ampatuan posted P200,000 for each of the 58 counts of murder via Travellers Insurance and Surety Corporation. 

The report apparently said that there was “no strong evidence of guilt” and that there was no showing that Sajid Islam had an active role in planning the 2009 massacre that killed nearly 60 journalists, according to the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility.

Sajid Islam is also reportedly the first Ampatuan to be released on bail, and was the OIC-governor of Maguindanao at the time of the massacre.

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