IT is now final: Former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Zaldy Ampatuan shall stay in jail for 58 counts of murder for the Maguindano massacre case.

This was after the Supreme Court junked with finality Ampatuan’s plea to be removed from the list of the accused in the heinous crime.

Based on a three-page resolution by the Court’s 3rd Division, signed by division clerk Lucita Soriano, dated Nov. 14, but was released to the media recently, it affirmed its earlier ruling on June 25 and Aug. 15 ruling which junked Ampatuan’s main petition and motion for reconsideration, respectively.

Now, the high court denied the second motion for reconsideration of Ampatuan and any additional appeal shall not be entertained anymore.

The five man tribunal junked Zaldy’s petition for a reversal of the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) in April, which affirmed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) resolution dated May 5, 2010 finding probable cause against Zaldy.

The DOJ reinstated Zaldy in the criminal information for the gruesome murder of 57 persons, 33 of them journalists.

The gruesome Maguindanao Massacre in Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman, Ampatuan town in Maguindanao province on November 23, 2009 took the lives of 57 civilians and more than half of the slain victims were journalists.

They were ruthlessly killed, including the wife, two sisters, lawyers, aides and motorists of now Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, through multiple gunshot wounds and their bodies and vehicles were interred with the use of a backhoe.

With this, the DOJ indicted Andal Sr., Zaldy, Akmad Ampatuan for the crime of multiple murder.

With the latest court ruling, Zaldy shall stay in jail after it affirmed the findings of the appeals court.

In the resolution of the CA Special Former 11th Division, the appellate court affirmed the findings of the DOJ on May 5, 2010 finding probable cause against Zaldy is correct and it committed no grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.

The CA argued that the arguments presented by Zaldy do not hold water and stressed that it is better that it shall be ventilated during the trial proper. It pointed out that the issue at hand is determination of probable cause and the petitioner is now ventilating on the merits of their respective cause and defensewhich must be done in a full-blown trial.

The CA gave a go-ahead to Quezon City RTC Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes to proceed with the case against Zaldy.