MANILA, Philippines - The beginning of each day of the Ampatuan trial is a reckoning of the dead. The prosecution’s many lawyers stand, one at a time, announcing their names and the names of the victims they represent.

Among those speaking in the entry of appearance is Atty. Maria Gemma Oquendo, now standing for her father and sister in the murder trial against Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr.

Catalino Oquendo Jr. and Atty. Cynthia Oquendo-Ayon were two of 57 found massacred in Ampatuan, Maguindanao on November 23, 2009.

It is difficult for Gemma to be in court, sitting across the aisle from the man she believes murdered her father and sister.

Catalino Oquendo, a former municipal treasurer, had completed his law degree but never managed to take the bar. When his daughters Cynthia and Gemma decided to become lawyers, it was a continuation of Catalino’s dream.

“We all dreamed together,” says Gemma in Filipino. “When we passed the bar, it was as if his dreams came true too.”

Gemma is 33, one of seven Oquendo children. The entire family is based in Polomok, South Cotabato. Cynthia, one of two women lawyers for the Mangudadatu family, was 35 when she was killed. Catalino was 75.

“It was always the three of us. We thought together, worked together.”

The day before either sister would attend a hearing, Catalino would offer a law book, an article, a case study for his daughter to read. It would help in the case, he would say. He took it upon himself to accompany his daughters to hearings, driving them to court even for simple motions.

He was with Cynthia in an L300 van on that Monday morning, part of a convoy of seven vehicles.

“He wanted to make sure Cynthia would be safe.”

His 73-year-old wife, a former election officer, initially planned to go with her daughter. The filing of Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu’s certificate of candidacy for governor of Maguindanao had been discussed among the Oquendos for more than two weeks.

When the massacre happened, Gemma wanted to give up law. She could not imagine practicing without her father and sister beside her.

“I wanted to stop, maybe be a farmer instead. My mother told me not to be sentimental.”

It was her mother who told her that both father and sister would be disappointed if Gemma stopped being what she was, a lawyer.

“Sometimes, in court, I forget that I’m standing for them, not with them.”

On January 20, the third day of Andal Ampatuan Jr.’s bail hearing, Atty. Maria Gemma J. Oquendo, counsel for the heirs of the late Cynthia Oquendo-Ayon and Catalino Oquendo Jr., will take her place again on the prosecution bench.