Massacre escapee still in RP, says Immigration

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said yesterday that there is no record of former Maguindanao provincial police director Superintendent Piang Adam leaving the country following his escape from jail last Tuesday.

Ferdinand Arbas, technical chief of the Office of the Immigration Commissioner, said they have no record of Adam leaving the country, but did not discount the possibility that the former police chief might have left through the southern backdoor.

“He is already in our watchlist so if he is spotted in any of the regular domestic ports then we would immediately inform the Department of Justice (DOJ),” Arbas said.

Arbas said there is a possibility that Adam left the country through the southern backdoor or had simply gone into hiding.

Sultan Kudarat provincial police director Senior Superintendent Suharto Teng Tocao, who is reportedly a cousin of Adam, said he has already ordered a massive manhunt for the former police official.

Police said they have located a safehouse where Adam is possibly hiding but declined to elaborate, citing ongoing operations.

Adam, implicated in the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao last Nov. 23, escaped from detention at the Sultan Kudarat provincial jail Tuesday.

Adam was arrested in Sultan Kudarat last December when the military raided his home and seized several high-powered firearms and explosives.

The former Maguindanao police official was also accused of fabricating a police report to make it appear that the 104 high-powered firearms that went missing were among those destroyed by a fire that razed the police armory in Shariff Aguak in 2008.

Police said some of the missing firearms turned up among those seized by the military from the properties owned by the Ampatuan family during search operations following the massacre.

The Ampatuans were tagged for the gruesome carnage of 57 people in what has been described as the worst pre-election related violent incident in the country’s history.

Although Adam was not directly charged in the massacre, the former Maguindanao police director was suspected to have been the source of the firearms that were used in the killings.

An investigation is underway focusing on the liability of the officials in the escape of Adam.

Among those being investigated is Sultan Kudarat Jail warden Romeo Ampuyas and jail guard Taha Kadalum, said to be another cousin of Adam.

Ampuyas claimed he was out when the escape occurred.

He said their investigation revealed the escape occurred between midnight Tuesday and early Wednesday.

The regional police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) filed charges of infidelity in the custody of prisoner against Kadalum before the provincial prosecutors office.

Apart from Kadalum, police also charged Jerry Loritom, Rabbi Dagmil and Esmael Panalangin, the jail guards who were present during the escape.

The CIDG said they have a witness who saw how Adam was able to bolt from the jail with help from his son Teng, and the two rode a motorcycle that passed through the front gate of the provincial jail.

Detainees at the provincial jail also claimed Adam was being given special treatment, with relatives even allowed to stay inside the jail to attend to Adam’s needs.

Local officials in Maguindanao, on the other hand, called on Sultan Kudarat Gov. Suharto Mangudadatu to put up a reward for the capture of Adam.

The governor is cousin of the vice mayor of Buluan town Esmael Mangudadatu, whose wife Genalyn was among the 57 victims of the massacre.

Mangudadatu, meanwhile, denied he and his two security details intentionally killed the aide of former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. during last week’s shooting incident inside a shopping mall in Davao City.

Mangudadatu made the denial even as murder charges were filed against him and his two police security escorts - Police Officer 1 Surab Lintukan Bantas and Police Officer 1 Ibrahim Langalen - for shooting Tamano Kagi Kamendan, an alleged close-in security aide of Ampatuan Sr. -With John Unson, Rose Tamayo-Tesoro, Edith Regalado