Lawyer Raymund Fortun has quit as counsel for Maguindanao massacre principal accused Andal Ampatuan Jr.
Fortun’s withdrawal from the case came before Ampatuan’s camp submitted a memorandum, which is the final evidence on the 58 counts murder charges against him, before the Quezon City court.
In a two-page order, Quezon City Regional Trial Court (QCRTC) Branch 221 Presiding Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes has granted Fortun’s motion to withdraw appearance as counsel for Ampatuan Jr..
Fortun filed the motion asking the court to allow his law firm, Fortun and Santos Law Offices, to withdraw as counsel for Ampatuan due to personal reasons.
Ampatuan has a written conformity allowing his counsel to withdraw from the case.
During the hearing of the motion, the prosecution through Prosecutor Moises Acayan orally acknowledged that the nature of the withdrawal is personal between the client and the lawyer.
The prosecutor has sought that the cases be submitted for resolution pursuant to the court’s previous order.
In her order, Reyes said “the court is in a quandary as to the real motive in filing the said motion considering that after having been given several settings for the presentation of sur-rebuttal evidence and filing of motions one after the other that resulted in the unnecessary delay of proceedings, the accused counsel filed the motion and had set it for hearing on the last day of filing of the parties’ respective memoranda pursuant to the July 29, 2019 order of the court’’.
“But having in mind the well-settled rule that the withdrawal as counsel for a party with the client’s written conformity does not require the approval of the court to be effective, the Court rules to grant the relief being prayed for,” as stated in the order.
Following the granting of the motion, the court directed Ampatuan to engage the services of another counsel.
For the meantime, the court appointed Atty. Armando Cura as counsel de officio of the accused.
Fortun took over as counsel of Ampatuan in Sept. 2016, replacing his brother, Sigfrid Fortun.
Ampatuan together with more 90 other accused are now awaiting decision on the multiple murders charges against them in connection with the killing of 58 people, including 32 members of the media, that took place in Maguindanao on Nov. 23, 2009. (Chito Chavez)