Not since the post-World War II Nuremberg trials of 1945-49, which saw the conviction of 18 war criminals, have the world seen this large number of persons convicted by a single court.

The Maguindanao massacre ruling indeed leaves much to be desired, but it nonetheless scored a direct hit on the allegations of President Rodrigo Duterte’s critics of a breakdown in the criminal justice system.

Presidential Human Rights Committee Secretariat Undersecretary Severo Catura termed the decision of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Presiding Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes as a milestone in the country’s human rights history with the conviction of 43 personalities.

Some 28, including members of the powerful Ampatuan family, were declared guilty beyond reasonable doubt and sentenced to life imprisonment, while 15 were sentenced to six to 10 years and eight months in prison as accessories to the crime.

The judicial undertaking and the eventual ruling were indeed monumental as Catura noted that not since the post-World War II Nuremberg trials of 1945-49, which saw the conviction of 18 war criminals, have the world seen this large number of persons convicted by a single court.

In comparison, the much-ballyhooed International Criminal Court, “in all its 17 years in existence and after having spent more than a billion dollars, has only convicted four personalities,” according to Catura. It took a humble regional trial court in this side of the world to make a difference, he added.

The chief allegation against the President in the crimes against humanity charges was the supposed failure of the local courts to function that was totally debunked in the resolution of the Maguindanao case.

The judiciary, despite some misgivings, has convincingly proven that it is not what Rody’s detractors have been claiming it to be, which is that it does not have the capability to prosecute “crimes against humanity.”