Ampatuan Kin Ordered Attack'

September 30, 2010, 7:01pm

MANILA, Philippines — A member of the Ampatuan clan allegedly ordered the attack on the convoy of the Mangudadatu family three days before the carnage, a new witness in the “Maguindanao Massacre” said Wednesday at the resumption of the hearing at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

Prosecution witness Norodin Mauya, a farmer from Maguindanao, bared this as he recounted the events that transpired a few days before the infamous November 23, 2009 massacre where 57 people, including 31 journalists, were killed.

As this developed, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima is pushing for the arrest of 37 other principal accused in the massacre and the holding of two to three hearings a week to expedite the case.

Mauya claimed that on November 20, 2009 he saw Datu Kanor, a grandson of Ampatuan patriarch Andal Sr., and Chief Inspector Sukarno Dikay with armed men roaming Sitio Malating, Barangay Salman, Malatig, Ampatuan, Magunidanao.

Speaking in his local dialect, Mauya said he saw the armed group, including the alleged henchmen of Datu Kanor, near his house when he, his father, and six neighbors were on their way to the mosque to pray.

He said that three police vehicles, all facing the direction of Sultan Kudarat, were parked near the madrash (Arabic school), adding that around 30 heavily-armed men were seen in the area.

Upon their return from the mosque 30 minutes later, Mauya noticed only one police vehicle left in the site near “Purok’’(small houses) where around 20 heavily-armed men of Datu Kanor were on standby.

Mauya said that Datu Kanor whom he described as “siga’’ (toughie) arrived in his red pick-up ordering his men to position themselves and be ready to shoot at the convoy of Esmael Mangudadatu, now the new Maguindanao governor, to prevent the then gubernatorial candidate from filing his candidacy.

Mauya told his mother about what he heard and was asked by the latter to immediately flee to a house in the mountains where he works to save himself and his family from harm.

On November 21, 2009 the following day, Mauya decided to return home despite the looming danger for fear that their belongings might be stolen by looters.

On his way home, Mauya said he saw Datu Kanor distributing food consisting of rice and dried fish to his men who had increased and were heavily armed with M14, M16, and M203 grenade launchers.

Mauya also said Datu Kanor allegedly ordered the people in the village to vacate their houses and bring their children with them telling them about their planned massacre against Mangudadatu’s group even if they were escorted by soldiers.

During the direct examination at the hearing before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, Branch 221, Mauya also presented a sketch of an area

indicating the location of his residence, mosque, madrash (Arabic school), and other relevant places were the planned bloodbath on the clan’s political rival was allegedly hatched three days before the massacre.

The move to present the location sketch on the projector drew objections from defense lawyer Sigfried Fortun but the court allowed the proceedings to continue despite the protest.

Fortun said his team, not even in the pre-trial conference, was not informed about the film showing of the sketch.

Earlier, witness Lakmudin Saliao who had served the Ampatuan family for 23 years, revealed during during the cross examination that he was accustomed to hearing about the killings involving the Ampatuan clan.

“Di lang kasi yan ang nangyari marami pang ibang nangyari,” Saliao added.

On November 23, 2009, Saliao said there were more than 10 successive calls made on the cellular phone of Andal Sr., adding that he was the one who handed the phone to the elder Ampatuan when Andal Jr. made the call.

After the almost eight-hour Ampatuan hearing, Maguindanao Governor Mangudadatu said that the testimonies of Mauya and Saliao further strengthened the case against the accused.

He said the ploy of trying to discredit the witness seemed to backfire against the accused hoping that justice would be served at the soonest time possible.

Mangudadatu’s counsel Nena Santos said that Mauya’s testimony proved that the November 23, 2009 carnage was planned by the Ampatuans.

However, Mangudadatu complained about the preferential treatment accorded to the Ampatuans as he asked President Aquino and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to routinely install new jail guards manning the cells of the accused.

He also asked the President and the Justice Secretary to look into reports about the alleged plan of one of the Ampatuans to escape detention at the Camp Bagong Diwa Jail Facility.

Arrest of 37 accused sought
De Lima, meanwhile, said the arrest of the principal accused in the massacre is on the priority list.

“We are really focusing on the prosecution, what we call the priority list. We aim for the arrest of the principal accused. Majority has not been arrested, but the majority (of the accused) are the followers, civilian armies,” she said.

The Justice Secretary said the target is for the immediate arrest of the 37 principal accused. “About 37 principal accused still at large, some of them are also surnamed Ampatuan. Yung mga relatives pa rin, still at large, so that is what we are pushing for,” she said.

De Lima said they have been in close coordination with the Philippine National Police (PNP) for the implementation of warrants of arrest on the accused.

“I understand ongoing operations about that implementation of the standing warrant of arrest, that is what we want so prosecution can move so that we will be able to target a particular timeline,” she said.

De Lima further said the prosecution would be able to plan out legal strategies once the principal accused are arrested.

“If the principal accused are there (arrested). We will be able to plan out and target a particular timeline in terms of expeditiously going about the trial,” she said.

De Lima also anticipated the dilatory moves on the part of the defense. “But of course it would depend on some other factors, the amount of anticipated dilatory moves on the part of the defense counsel, we should expect that endless dilatory maneuvers,” she said.

She said she told the prosecution panel to move for the holding of two to three hearings a week to expedite the case.

De Lima said the Department of Justice (DoJ) is pleased with the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) to relieve the judge handling the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre of other cases so she could concentrate on the trial of the multiple murder charges for speedy expedition of the case.

“We are pleased about that. We have been waiting for this… we have been waiting for measures on how to expedite the trial otherwise.”

Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes, of the QCRTC, Branch 221, who is handling the Maguindanao massacre case, has been relieved of other cases lodged before her sala so that she could concentrate in hearing the multiple murder charges filed against 197 individuals, led by members of the influential Ampatuan clan.


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