'4 hired guns killed witness'

MANILA, Philippines – Four gunmen allegedly hired by the Ampatuan family had carried out the killing of a key witness in the Maguindanao massacre last week, according to lawyer Harry Roque.

Roque said he had a witness who could identify the four gunmen who shot and killed Suwaid Upham last June 14.

“The witness positively identified the four gunmen that killed Upham,” Roque told ABS-CBN.

Roque added that he would personally reveal the names of the four gunmen today, including the mastermind in the killing of Upham, based on the account of his informant.

He said the witness identified the gunmen as close to the Ampatuan family in Maguindanao.

The witness, Roque said, is now in hiding for fear of his life.

Roque earlier introduced Upham to the media as a potential witness to the massacre.

Upham who introduced himself as Jessie, told a select group of journalists that he was a member of the armed militia that served the Ampatuan family in Maguindanao.

Upham had admitted being one of the gunmen who took part in the killing of 57 people in the province last Nov. 23.

He identified the other gunmen as former Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., his cousins Kanor Ampatuan, Ban Ampatuan, and Mama Ampatuan, Police Officer 1 Ando Masukat, and a certain Kudja.

Roque said Upham had stayed in Manila for two months since March to apply for inclusion in the witness protection program.

He said the witness decided to return to Mindanao after realizing the Department of Justice (DOJ) had turned him down.

Roque also said Upham had carried different names to hide his true identity for security reasons.

This was not until after Upham was killed on June 14.

Police investigators led by Senior Superintendent Benito Estipona of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said Upham had used different names, which only confused the police as to his true identity.

Estipona established the victim’s identity as Sweb Dalanda Bedo.

He said police investigators also gathered several documents that showed Bedo, alias Upham, also carried identification cards with a different name, Swed Dalanda Tacil.

But photographs gathered by the investigators from the victim’s relatives in Mamapasano town revealed Bedo and Tacil are one and the same person, he said.

According to Estipona, Bedo is the same person who introduced himself as Jessie, alias Suwaib Upham, when he was interviewed by a select group of journalists in Manila last March.

Estipona said investigators became puzzled on the true identity of Bedo.

He said two of the accused in the case, Takpan Dilon and Esmael Canapia, both members of the armed civilian volunteers of the Ampatuans, could not even recognize Bedo.

Estipona also said investigators had set a meeting with Roque to get more information surrounding Bedo.

He said investigators are trying to connect Bedo to the statements of other witnesses in the massacre.

Estipona pointed out Bedo was not among the witnesses under government custody.

Investigators said since the name of the supposed witness was neither in the lists of witnesses nor among the accused, Bedo could not be connected with the massacre at all.

A total of 196 people were charged in connection with the multiple murders, including 13 Ampatuan family members led by patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his sons suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan and Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. who allegedly led the brutal murders.

Estipona said that a total of 62 people involved in the massacre are now detained at the maximum detention facility in Bicutan, Taguig including the key Ampatuan members and at least 40 policemen.

A total of 134 accused, including soldiers and policemen, are yet to be accounted for.

Estipona, on the other hand, said they are not discounting the possibility of a personal motive in the killing of Bedo.

Although it was apparent that there is enough motive to silence Bedo or Upham to prevent him from testifying on the murders, Estipona said their initial investigation also revealed the victim reportedly visited a woman he had befriended during a trip.

“One of the possible motives we are looking into is the love angle. We had information that the victim visited a woman he had befriended during a trip at sea. The woman turned out to be engaged already,” Estipona said.

Maguindanao police director Senior Superintendent Alex Lineses also said they are eyeing love triangle as the motive behind the killing.

Lineses told ABS-CBN that Bedo was seen frequently visiting a woman.

“Bedo was courting a woman who turned out to be engaged to another man. He even spent the night at the house of the woman’s father,” Lineses said.

He said the woman’s family was not even aware that Bedo was among the gunmen that took part in the Maguindanao massacre. - Cecille Suerte Felipe, John Unson