THREE years after the Maguindanao massacre, former governor Zaldy Ampatuan of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, on Wednesday, pleaded not guilty to the murder of 57 people in 2009.

When asked to enter a plea, Ampatuan told Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of Branch 221 of the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City, that he was leaving everything to his counsel Sigfrid Fortun.

He was later forced to make the plea himself after he was pressed by the judge.

“I am not guilty, your honor,” Ampatuan declared at a makeshift court of the Quezon City Jail-Annex, Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City.

Solis set Ampatuan’s arraignment after the Supreme Court had affirmed the Court of Appeals’ order to include him in the list of accused in the massacre case.

Ampatuan was charged with the murder of only 57 out of 58 massacre victims because the body of one victim, a journalist, has yet to be recovered. Thirty-two of the victims in the November 23, 2009 massacre are members of the media.

The Ampatuan patriarch, former governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. of Maguindanao province and another son, former mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. of Datu Unsay, have already been arraigned for the massacre.

The victims were part of a convoy that was accompanying then vice mayor and now Gov. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu of Maguindanao in filing his candidacy for his current governatorial seat in the 2010 elections when they were stopped at a checkpoint. All who joined the convoy were killed and their bodies were buried in a pit by a backhoe.

Mangudadatu was supposed to run against Andal Ampatuan Jr., who was later unable to file his certificate of candidacy because of his being accused in the massacre case.

Private prosecutor Nena Santos, Mangudadatu’s counsel, welcomed the arraignment of Ampatuan even as she noted that “it took three long years for it to happen.”

Mangudadatu, together with the relatives of the other victims, was present during the trial. His wife was among the fatalities.

Based on court records, the prosecution has already presented 101 witnesses since the trial started on January 5, 2010.