Looters target private homes in Maguindanao

SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao, Philippines – Residents here expressed fears yesterday that unidentified armed men would attack more private residences after looters ransacked their houses last Thursday night.

Al Mahumbra said that his family and several neighbors were forced to leave their homes in Barangay Poblacion after armed men barged into their houses and took their belongings.

Mahumbra said the looters took their two motorcycles, a mountain bike, food and other valuables.

“They (suspects) knocked on doors, house to house. At gunpoint, they took anything they wanted. We are so helpless now because this (looting) is happening almost every night. The armed men said they would burn us alive,” Mahumbra told The STAR.

Residents have started leaving their villages, taking their belongings to safer areas in Maguindanao and Cotabato City.

“Last night one of us managed to escape and seek the assistance of the military at a nearby detachment, but we became more hopeless when they refused to help us,” Mahumbra said.

Ali Macabalang, director of the Public Information Office of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said the situation in Maguindanao is alarming.

“This is so alarming. We are dealing with a crooked society here. I can compare the situation as a recurrence of the pre-Edsa period,” Macabalang said.

He reported to Senior Superintendent Bienvenido Latag of the ARMM police that the situation in Maguindanao is worsening.

“He (Latag) said he just arrived from a series of conferences in Manila. He will inform immediately the PNP provincial director (in Maguindanao) to coordinate with the military and to address the situation squarely,” Macabalang said.

Meanwhile, Malacañang called on the military and police commanders to explain the looting and ransacking of villages and local government offices in Maguindanao.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said the military and police commanders in the province should explain the presence of marauding groups of men looting and ransacking villages and local government offices at the provincial capitol they are supposed to be guarding.

Remonde said Malacañang would be focusing on apparent lapses on the part of the government security personnel in failing to prevent the looting of the provincial capitol of Shariff Aguak, which was supposedly under heavy guard as the state of emergency remains over the province in the aftermath of the Nov. 23 massacre that left 57 people dead.

“The authorities in charge there should give a satisfactory explanation for what is seen as their lapses,” Remonde said, but declined to say if there will be any punitive actions imposed on the erring security officials.

State of emergency remains

Malacañang said the state of emergency in Maguindanao would continue as long as looting and other criminal activities continue in the province.

Local officials in Maguindanao called on the police and military to identify the group that had been harassing several villages, robbing houses and local government offices even in the presence of government troops.

There were reports of armed men in “military uniform” roaming around and extorting money and food from the villagers.

Unidentified gunmen also twice attempted to scale some of the mansions owned by the Ampatuan family, blamed for the Nov. 23 massacre.

Another group also torched seven farmhouses of workers of former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao acting governor Ansarudin Adiong has ordered the regional police to look into the reported activities of unidentified gunmen in Shariff Aguak and in the adjoining towns of Ampatuan and Mamasapano.

Police, however, could not say if the gunmen are followers of the Ampatuans or Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas.

Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, whose wife and relatives were among those killed in the massacre, urged the Senate to conduct an inquiry on the looting in Maguindanao.

Mangudadatu urged Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. to take the initiative to conduct a congressional inquiry over the looting, particularly in the offices of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the province.

With the state of emergency in place, the military and police would maintain a strong presence in the province to prevent any incidents of lawless violence.

Ironically, the looting took place in the provincial capitol under the noses of the military and policemen guarding the area.

The police and the military, under the state of emergency, are still tasked to hunt down the armed supporters of the Ampatuans and search their homes for more firearms.

This developed as a relative of the Ampatuans was gunned down yesterday in Datu Saudi town in Maguindanao.

Police identified the victim as Jundeal Kamaong, son of Datu Piang Vice Mayor Datu Genwain Kamaong and cousin of Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., the principal suspect in the Nov. 23 massacre.

Kamaong was inside a roadside eatery near the town hall of Datu Saudi when unidentified men approached and shot the victim from behind.

Acting provincial police director Superintendent Alex Lineses said they are trying to determine if the killing of Kamaong was in retaliation for the massacre.

The government has already filed charges of murder and rebellion against the Ampatuans and several other people involved in the massacre.

Principal suspect Ampatuan Jr. is facing multiple charges of murder.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said they are prepared to present witnesses against Ampatuan Jr. next week.

Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño said they are scheduled to present more witnesses, including one of the suspects in the carnage, to testify for the prosecution in the attempt to convince the court not to grant the petition for bail filed by Ampatuan Jr. - With Paolo Romero, Edu Punay, John Unson, Rose Tamayo-Tesoro, Christina Mendez