Andal Ampatuan, Jr., the mayor of Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao and principal suspect in the infamous Maguindanao massacre, pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder during an unexpected arraignment in Tuesday’s first trial of the case inside the Philippine National Police headquarters Camp Crame, Quezon City.

“Not guilty,” Ampatuan told the court three times when he was arraigned for the first three cases read in connection with the death of three relatives of Buluan Vice Mayor and Maguindanao gubernatorial candidate Esmael Mangudadatu.

Both the prosecution and defense teams agreed to have Andal, the only respondent present out of the more than 160 suspects in the November 23 massacre, arraigned before his petition for bail is discussed.

The hearing started at 8:30 a.m. at the tightly-guarded Police Non-Commissioned Officer Hall inside Camp Crame. Ampatuan, wearing a pink-white checkered polo, was led into the courtroom by National Bureau of Investigation agents a few minutes before the proceedings started. He was not handcuffed.

A request for a five-minute recess was granted by Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes after the court was informed that only 41 charge sheets were turned over to her sala. The arraignment was done when the proceedings resumed.

Ampatuan Jr. and his chief legal counsel Siegfried Fortun then proceeded in front of the sala of Judge Reyes for the reading of the charge sheet but it was a delayed for a few seconds when Fortun said his client could not understand English and Filipino.

“He only speaks Maguindanaons,” Fortun told the court.

To which Judge Reyes replied: “Do we have an interpreter?... Please ask him (if Ampatuan is willing to read the charge sheet in English).”

“He is willing to have it done in English,” Fortun then told the judge after conferring with his client.

Seemingly running out of patience as the reading of the 41 information could last in an hour, Fortun interrupted the arraignment and suggested that it be cut short by reading the case numbers and the names of corresponding victims before his client is asked of his plea. The court and the prosecutors agreed.

The arraignment was then done in two batches, first for the 25 cases filed late November and the second for the 16 others filed early December last year.

“Not guilty” was the uniform response of Ampatuan in all the charges through Fortun, who told the court of his client’s plea over a microphone.

Then the showdown between Fortun and DoJ Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Richard Fadullon began.

When government and private prosecutors presented lawyer Ricardo Diaz, chief of the NBI Counter Terrorism Unit, Fortun protested after Fadullon’s 10 minutes of questioning, saying the latter was not establishing its point so far.

Diaz is among the 12 prosecution witnesses lined up to oppose the suspect’s bail petition.

This was followed by another debate when Fadullon insisted on having the flash disk containing the pictures of the recovered cadavers marked as evidence, with Fortun opposing since Diaz himself admitted that it was not authentic and was just turned over to him by the military.

When the proceedings were about to adjourn at around 10:30 a.m., lawyer Harry Roque, who represents some of the victims particularly the media workers, manifested that they will request for the transfer of Ampatuan Jr. to the Quezon City Jail.

“His detention at the NBI is a special treatment; he has his own room and we don’t know of other things that he enjoys there. So in behalf of the family of the victims, we want him transferred to the Quezon City Jail,” Roque told the court.

Editha Tiamzon, wife of UNTV crewman Dany Tiamzon, one of the 57 massacre victims, said they want Ampatuan Jr. stripped of the special treatment at the NBI since his detention there is tantamount to protection from the government.

“We don’t see reason to be happy so far because he is being accorded with special treatment, he must be in QC Jail,” said Tiamzon.

Chief Supt. Leonardo Espina, PNP spokesman, for his part lauded all policemen who participated in securing Tuesday’s hearing.

“The security was spectacular, almost perfect,” he said.

At least 30 policemen were inside the courtroom, anticipating possible confrontations between the relatives of the Mangudadatus and Ampatuans.

Before the proceedings concluded, Fortun requested that the trial be heard twice a week, to which the prosecutors agreed.

The next hearing will be on January 13, Wednesday at 8:30 a.m., and another is scheduled on January 20.