Massacre video elicits yawns from Ampatuan Jr.

MANILA, Philippines - A video of the exhumation of victims in the Maguindanao massacre last November apparently bored the prime suspect in the case, as the three-hour footage had Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. yawning several times and chewing gum.

Ampatuan also applied lotion to his face while talking with one of his lawyers during screening of the footage yesterday, which state prosecutors presented as evidence.

The hearing at Camp Crame, Quezon City was for the bail petition of principal suspect Ampatuan of Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao.

State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera also presented for direct examination Gerry Atanoso, Photographer 1 of the Provincial Planning and Development Office of the Sultan Kudarat provincial government, who took the footage a day after the Nov. 23 massacre in Ampatuan town.

The photographer was the third witness presented by the prosecution panel at the special courtroom of the Quezon City regional trial court at Camp Crame.

Atanoso testified that he was ordered by Sultan Kudarat Gov. Suharto Mangudadatu to assist the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the police by taking video footage of the massacre site at Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman, in Ampatuan, Maguindanao.

He said he took footage of the exhumation of bodies of the victims and the recovery of vehicles over two days using a 3CCD mini DV camera owned by the Sultan Kudarat government.

Atanoso said that after shooting the footage, he made two copies in DVD format of each footage taken on Nov. 24 and Nov. 25 and gave the copies to Gov. Mangudadatu and to Celso Hinga, an official of the NBI Region 12 office.

Harry Roque, lawyer of the wives of several journalists killed in the massacre, suddenly ran to the comfort room at the back of the courtroom and apparently threw up after viewing the gruesome videos of the massacre victims. He later left the courtroom.

Ampatuan’s defense lawyer Sigfrid Fortun tried to crush Atanoso’s testimony by questioning the integrity of the footage taken.

Fortun grilled Atanoso on why the property of the Sultan Kudarat provincial government, such as the 3CCD video camera, was used in shooting the footage in another province.

He questioned Atanoso if the Mangudadatus directed him how to shoot the footage, but the photographer denied being told how to take the videos.

Fortun said if the purpose of shooting the footage was to help the NBI in its investigation, Atanoso should have surrendered the two original mini DVDs to the bureau instead of just giving copies.

Atanoso said that he was not aware that state prosecutors were intending to use the footage as evidence.

Fortun then asked Atanoso if he was aware that bootleg DVD copies of the footage supposedly taken by him at the massacre site are now being sold for P150 each at Raon street in Quiapo, in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan; and at Makati Cinema Square.

Atanoso denied having knowledge of the sale of the bootleg DVDs. He also denied being the source of the pirated DVDs.

Mom-in-law’s house raided

Meanwhile, members of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) recovered assorted ammunition for high-powered weapons at a compound in Shariff Aguak of Bai Samera Nor Santiago, the mother-in-law of Ampatuan Jr.

Senior Superintendent Bienvenido Garcia Latag, police director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said a search warrant was presented to the house owners in the presence of acting Mayor Monir Ampatuan Asim Jr. of Shariff Aguak and other government officials before the search was conducted.

The police dug out several boxes of ammunition for M203 grenade launcher, M16 rifles, light machine guns, seven tripods for caliber 50 machine guns, and tripods for 81 mm mortar and caliber 30.

A series of raids were conducted by government troops on several compounds owned by the Ampatuans where rifles, machine guns, armored personnel carriers and ammunition have been recovered.

More than a hundred peace advocates from across Mindanao will pray on Saturday at the massacre site at Barangay Salman.

The group that includes members of the Kalinaw Mindanao, an interfaith coalition of human rights organizations, will assemble at 10 a.m. at the municipal hall of Ampatuan on Jan. 23 then proceed to Sitio Masalay. – With Rose Tamayo-Tesoro, John Unson, AP