De Lima vows speedy Maguindanao massacre prosecution

MANILA, Philippines - President-elect Benigno Aquino III’s incoming Justice secretary Leila de Lima vowed yesterday to speed up the prosecution of members of the Ampatuan clan who are accused of leading the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao last Nov. 23.

“The government should show that it means business by fast-tracking the judicial proceedings and that there will be those prosecuted and answerable for the crimes committed,” said De Lima, outgoing chair of the Commission on Human Rights, during a press conference after an emotional farewell program organized by the agency’s employees at their office in Quezon City.

De Lima expressed alarm over the murder of a potential witness in the massacre.

The killing proved that the Ampatuan clan remained dangerous even though some of its members are now detained and awaiting trial on multiple murder charges.

Key witness Suwaib Upham, whose real name was Sweb Dalanda Bedo, was gunned down last June 14 in Parang, Maguindanao. 

“Witnesses are being killed, harassed, and others could even be bribed,” said De Lima, adding that the trial (of the Ampatuans) should resume as soon as possible, but because of the motions filed by the different camps, the trial has been delayed.

The lawyer for the relatives of the victims of the Maguindanao massacre claimed yesterday that the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) has discarded the love triangle angle that was earlier floated as the cause of the killing of a potential key witness in the massacre.

Harry Roque of Centerlaw Philippines said he talked to Senior Superintendent Elmo Frantis, head of the CIDG’s Investigation Division, who informed him that the love triangle angle has been discarded by investigators.

Roque said the CIDG’s office at the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) now has in custody two witnesses who could identify the four suspects in the killing of Bedo.

The lawyer refused to identify the suspects so as not to jeopardize pursuit operations against them.

He described the suspects as civilian volunteers closely connected with the Ampatuan clan.

The CIDG had earlier confirmed that the man killed in Parang, Magundanao last June 14 was Bedo alias Upham and Jessie, who had confessed that he was one of the gunmen who were allegedly led by former mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. of Datu Unsay, Maguindanao.

Bedo surfaced last March to apply for admission to the Department of Justice’s Witness Protection Program (WPP) but officials of the agency failed to interview the witness despite being scheduled twice.

The witness, who admitted to having taken part in the massacre, also reportedly identified the other gunmen as Andal Jr., his cousins Kanor Ampatuan, Ban Ampatuan, and Mama Ampatuan, Police Officer 1 Ando Masukat, and a certain Kudja.

Upham said other Ampatuan family members that included former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy Ampatuan ordered the massacre at Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman, in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao.

Bedo revealed he was among the gunmen that killed Genalyn Mangudadatu, the wife of now Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu. He said Andal Jr. ordered all of them to open fire at the victims with their automatic rifles.

The massacre resulted in the killing of 57 people, including the wife of Mangudadatu who was then vice mayor of Buluan, Maguindanao, and two of his sisters, two female lawyers and 30 media men who covered the supposed filing of certificate of candidacy of the vice mayor who would run for provincial governor and challenge a scion of the Ampatuan clan.

Esmael Mangudadatu was elected governor of Maguindanao in the May 10 elections.

The Mangudadatus have blamed the Ampatuans for the killings, specifically pointing to former mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. of Datu Unsay town as the leader of more than 100 armed men who abducted Mangudadatu’s supporters.

The Ampatuans denied any involvement in the massacre.

Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the of the Quezon City regional trial court is handling the multiple murder charges filed against 197 suspects, including the members of the Ampatuan clan, who are all detained in Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig.

Quezon City Judge Vivencio Baclig is currently conducting the hearing on the separate rebellion charges filed against the Ampatuan clan members.

Upham had admitted that he was one of seven gunmen who shot and killed the victims.

Bedo stated that among the first to be killed was the wife of Mangudadatu and that after the first batch of victims were killed, Andal Jr. ordered all seven gunmen to fire indiscriminately at the other victims, many of whom were still inside their parked vehicles.

CIDG investigators said Bedo was carrying a postal identification card bearing the name Swed Dalanda Tacil when he was killed.  – With Mike Frialde, Edu Punay, Cecille Suerte Felipe, John Unson