Mangudadatu, 2 aides face murder raps

DAVAO CITY , Philippines  – Maguindanao gubernatorial candidate Esmael Mangudadatu and his two police escorts were charged with murder before the Davao City Prosecutor’s Office yesterday.

Mangudadatu, whose wife was among those killed in last year’s Maguindanao massacre, and Police Officers 1 Surab Bantas and Ibrahim Langalen were accused of killing Tamano Kagi Kamendan, an aide of former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr.

Davao City police charged the three based on the affidavit of Natividad de Arce Kamendan, 32, wife of the 41-year-old Tamano who was shot dead inside the J.S. Gaisano South Mall in Davao City on Thursday night.

In her affidavit, De Arce Kamendan said she was with her husband at the fourth floor of the mall to buy clothes for their children when they met Mangudadatu, who was with his three children.

She said that Mangudadatu asked her husband, “Endaw bos nengka (Where is your boss)?”

Her husband replied, “No get ren da ako lo (I am no longer going there).”

De Arce Kamendan said when her husband asked Mangudadatu’s permission to leave, she heard Mangudadatu say, “Tem bak nu den (Shoot him).”

At this point, she said her husband ran away and Mangudadatu’s security escorts chased him.

One of the men chasing her husband drew his gun, and then she heard gun shots, she added.

De Arce Kamendan said she hid inside the mall’s stockroom together with the salesgirls.

She only came out 15 minutes later when she saw uniformed Davao City policemen at the scene, she added.

Mangudadatu denies allegations

However, Mangudadatu said De Arce Kamendan’s affidavit is full of lies, and he will file the necessary affidavit to counter Kamendan’s accusations.

Mangudadatu, who is listed as being “at large” in the murder complaint, told The STAR in a phone interview yesterday that he was not in hiding.

“That is her (Kamendan) story,” he said.

“She has the right to say whatever she wants to say. But I will really file my counter-affidavit to show the truth and what really took place.”

Mangudadatu said Kamendan tried to snatch his 11-year-old daughter Grace, and that his bodyguards chased him.

“I was really caught by surprise by the turn of events,” he said.

“I did not notice that Kamendan already grabbed the hand of my daughter which caused me to shout for help, and then the others also shouted and it was my bodyguard who went after him,” he said.

Mangudadatu said during the commotion, he and his three children hid in the mall’s fitting room while his police bodyguards went after Kamendan.

“I even heard plates thrown before I heard the gunshots,” he said.

Kamendan succumbed to five gunshot wounds from caliber .9mm and .45 pistols.

Bantas and Langalen were subjected to paraffin tests and their firearms to ballistic tests after the shooting.

Relatives want killing probed

Relatives of Kamendan have asked police to investigate how he was shot from behind when he was supposed to have been armed at the time of the shooting.

“It appears he was shot from behind when he and his wife had just turned their backs after a brief conversation with Vice Mayor Mangudadatu,” said a relative who works at the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

“Who in his proper frame of mind would carry a gun inside a mall in Davao City? It defeats logic.”

Kamendan had worked as caretaker of a farm of the Ampatuans in Shariff Aguak.

Police recovered three empty shells from a .9mm caliber gun and five empty shells from a .45 caliber pistol.

Mangudadatu security to be reviewed

The military will review security arrangements for Mangudadatu following an attempt to kidnap his 11-year-old daughter in Davao City last Thursday.

Mangudadatu’s police security escort shot dead the suspected kidnapper after a scuffle for his gun inside a mall, according to Davao Region police director Chief Superintendent Pedro Tango.

Mangudadatu told reporters he was the target of the attack as the slain gunman was a close aide of Ampatuan.

Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao chief, said they are coordinating with police to implement new security measures.

“We will have to be strict to prevent spillover of rido or clan war in Davao,” he said.

“We will review the security arrangement for the two families, both families should be secured.”

Ferrer said the attack could not be considered as part of rido because the slain gunman was not a member of the Ampatuan clan.

The military will ask Mangudadatu to minimize his movement to prevent a similar incident, he added.

Mangudadatu said the assailant was one of the gunmen wanted by authorities in connection with the Nov. 23 Maguindanao massacre.

Metro jail ready for Ampatuan Jr.

The Metro Manila Jail in Bicutan, Taguig will be ready to receive Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. by the first week of March.

Metro Manila police commander Director Roberto Rosales said they are now working on the detention facility’s perimeter fence, more guards have been detailed at the compound, and procedures have been fine-tuned to accommodate visitors of Ampatuan and other detainees from Mindanao.

All other problems are being resolved on orders of Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, he added.

Rosales said Chief Justice Reynato Puno was satisfied with what he saw when he inspected the jail and the courtroom last week.

The courtroom is located right under the place of detention of Ampatuan Jr., he added.

Rosales said surveillance cameras will be installed inside the Metro Manila Jail to monitor the movements of detainees.

Ampatuan will no longer need security escorts as he only has to walk down the stairs to the courtroom, he added.

The Metro Manila Jail is located at the 48-hectare Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, which also houses the headquarters of the National Capital Regional Police Office.

27 policemen linked to massacre reassigned to Camp Crame

Twenty-seven of the 63 policemen implicated in the Maguindanao massacre have been reassigned to Camp Crame in Quezon City.

Superintendent Joaquin Alva, Task Force Maguindanao spokesman, said the 27 policemen will be assigned at the Headquarters Support Service.

“We are still waiting for the others,” he said.

Alva said Superintendent Abusama Maguid was among the 27 police officers now under restrictive custody and disarmed.

Administrative charges have been filed against the policemen before the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, he added.

Maguid is the highest police official being investigated for the massacre of 57 people last Nov. 23.

Ampatuan relative asks court to stop proceedings and arrest

One of the Ampatuans charged with murder in connection with the Maguindanao massacre has asked a Quezon City court to suspend the proceedings and hold the issuance of an arrest warrant against him.

Saudi Ampatuan Jr. told the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 that he has a pending motion for reconsideration before the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Saudi’s lawyers Teddy Esteban Rigoroso and Roderick Rabino said prosecutors committed “serious errors” in finding probable cause against their client.

Their findings were not “supported by evidence whatsoever,” the lawyers added.

The lawyers said if given the opportunity, the DOJ “will be able to rectify its error.”

 Military: Law and order broke down in Maguindanao after massacre

Armed Forces Eastmincom chief Ferrer said law and order broke down in Maguindanao province after the massacre of 57 people last Nov. 23.

“There was a breakdown of law and order with the involvement of some policemen and military personnel in the massacre,” he said.

Testifying at the rebellion trial of the Ampatuans at the Quezon City RTC Branch 77, Ferrer said based on the military’s assessment, policemen were involved in the massacre one way or another, particularly those detailed in the first district of Maguindanao.

“So we have to bring in new policemen who are still loyal to the chain of command,” he said.

Ferrer said policemen in Maguindanao at that time received orders from local government officials, not the chain of command.

Some members of the Civilian Volunteers Organization were also involved in the massacre, he added.

Ferrer said that the local positions in the first district of Maguindanao are dominated by members of the Ampatuan clan.

When they were trying to verify the kidnapping of the 57 individuals, Chief Inspector Sukarno Dicay, Maguindanao police deputy commander, denied the incident, he added.

As a result, he and Police Director Felizardo Serapio decided to relieve all policemen in Maguindanao and replace them with those from units outside the province, Ferrer said. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Non Alquitran Reinir Padua, John Unson, Cecille Suerte Felipe