THE defense in the celebrated Maguindanao massacre case managed to block the presentation of a police official involved in the seizure of vehicles from the mansion of the Ampatuan clan as witness for the prosecution.

Senior Inspector Francisco Sonza of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), who the prosecution said could reveal damaging information about the accused in the “Maguindanao massacre” case, was not permitted by Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes, who is hearing the multiple murder case, to be presented.

Defense lawyer Philip Sigfrid Fortun, who represents primary accused Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his son Andal Jr, protested against the presentation since Sonza was not part of the original list of witnesses submitted by the prosecution during the pre-trial stage.

Assistant State Prosecutor Olivia Torrevillas slammed Fortun’s move, saying the defense lawyer protested against the testimony, “when he realized how damaging it was.”

But Fortun replied to the prosecutors that the hearing is not a game show and they are there because they are confident of the evidence they have, not the evidence that was chanced upon.

Because of the non-presentation of Sonza the morning hearing of the case was cancelled because the next available witness would only be available in the afternoon.

This prompted Solis-Reyes to say: “I just noticed you’re having a hard time presenting witnesses. Why don’t you just rest your case concerning the bail petition?”

The presentation of a number of prosecution witnesses had been held in abeyance after they were questioned by the defense. Two of them had been allowed by the court but the defense still continued to question their presentation by appealing Solis-Reyes’ ruling.

Another defense lawyer, Paris Real, stood up and slammed the prosecution for its “strategy” of presenting witnesses who are not on the list provided during the pre-trial.

Real noted that the defense lawyers would naturally object to this, leading to the delay in the trial.

Lawyer Andres Manuel, also a defense counsel, also asked for the list of all witnesses the prosecution intends to present during the hearings on the bail petitions of the several accused in the case.