Maguindanao massacre fugitive wins in barangay polls

MANILA, Philippines - A member of the Ampatuan clan, despite being wanted for alleged participation in the November 2009 Maguindanao massacre, was able to run and even win in the recent barangay election as a kagawad or councilman.

The suspect, Jimmy Ampatuan, was arrested and is now detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City after a commitment order was issued by Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221.

“We hereby commit to you the living person of Datu Jimmy Ampatuan, accused in the above entitled cases who is at present in the custody of the Regional Chief, CIDG ARMM, Pedro Colina Hill, Cotabato City, for confinement and safekeeping during the pendency of these cases subject to the orders of this court,” stated the commitment order dated Oct. 28.

In a report, Superintendent Rodriguez Malinao of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said Jimmy was arrested at past 5 p.m. on election day last Oct. 25 in Barangay Banaba, Datu Abdullah Sangki, Maguindanao.

The suspect reportedly won as barangay kagawad of Bangga village, Old Maganoy in Datu Abdullah Sangki.

He is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by Solis-Reyes in connection with the multiple murder case.

Malinao said the suspect carries a P300,000 bounty.

Dragnet for missing suspects

The police have placed all of the 11 towns in the first district of Maguindanao under tight surveillance following the other day’s arrest of two more suspects in the massacre.

The suspects, Tayah Karim and Tayan Salik, both former members of the Ampatuan private militia, each carried a P250,000 reward on their heads.

Chief Superintendent Bienvenido Latag, director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) police, said the arrest in Sultan Kudarat town of the two suspects was an indication that some of those wanted for the massacre could have dispersed to other towns in the first district of the province.

“Probably there is lesser pressure on them when they hide in these towns because most of the ongoing joint police and military operations against them are focused in towns in the second district of the province,” Latag said.

Karim and Salik were nabbed in their hideout in a cornfield in Barangay Matingen in Sultan Kudarat with the help of Muslim religious leaders in the area.

The ARMM police and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division are still tracking down other suspects in the massacre.

Several members of the Ampatuan clan, among them family patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr., are now detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City in connection with the apparently politically tainted carnage, the worst ever in the history of the province.

Suspect wants to turn state witness

Meanwhile, the camp of the Ampatuans will grill today the police official who claimed to have attended a meeting with the suspects before the Nov. 23 massacre, allegedly to discuss plans on how to prevent now Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu from running in the polls.

Police inspector Rex Ariel Diongon was supposed to be grilled on Oct. 27 right after the prosecution finished its direct questioning, but lawyer Sigfrid Fortun asked Judge Reyes to move it to today to give them more time to “intelligently” conduct their questioning.

Fortun also cited one of Diongon’s five affidavits, which he said was never furnished to their camp.

The hearing will start at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig today at 9 a.m. and will center on Diongon’s motion to become state witness.

Diongon is the head of the 1508th provincial mobile group, which conducted the checkpoint where the victims were allegedly intercepted by Andal Jr. and his men on that fatal day.

He said he also saw how the suspect and his men beat the victims using their high-powered guns before taking them to the crime scene in Sitio Masalay, where their dead bodies were later discovered.

He also admitted fabricating his first affidavit to cover up the killings as allegedly ordered by Senior Superintendent Abusama Maguid, head of the provincial police at that time.

In his first testimony, Diongon stated that the checkpoint at Sitio Malating on Nov. 19 was set up to respond to a bomb threat.

Diongon and his other colleagues are also facing administrative charges before the National Police Commission (Napolcom) for their alleged participation in the carnage.

At the Napolcom hearing last Friday, Superintendent Napoleon Olias said it was inappropriate for any police office to provide security detail without the approval of the director of the Philippine National Police (PNP) or the chairman of the Napolcom – as what some of the police tagged in the Maguindanao massacre did.

Olias, chief of the PNP’s Police Security and Protection Group (PSPG), also brought with him PNP and Napolcom circular 2000-008, which gives the guidelines for the policemen proviing security details.

He said cops who disobey this order will be sanctioned administratively.

“Based on my experience... we formally file administrative case against personnel who allowed himself to be utilized as personal security without corresponding letter order from our director,” Olias said.

During the cross-examination, however, defense lawyer Marlon Pagaduan cited the “culture” in the PNP where a lowly ranked cop usually follows his superior even without the order of the PNP director.

“Would you not consider it unfair for a PO1 (police officer 1) to be charged when he was just ordered by a senior police officer?” asked Pagaduan, counsel of PO1 Reiner Ebus, who allegedly provided security detail to Andal Jr.

He also raised the possibility of the case being “predisposed” after the hearing officer, who declined to be quoted, said that the policemen were “supposed to follow and know the law.”

The hearing officer stressed that she was not prejudging the case and that if they had already made predispositions, the case would have been promulgated already.

“Don’t ever presume that I am predisposed. I don’t even know these people,” the hearing officer said, referring to the policemen.

In a separate interview, Pagaduan said he “merely wanted to point out that it could be a different case in Maguindanao.” He added that his comment on the alleged predisposition only referred to the particular memorandum and not the entire case.

After the hearing was adjourned, one of Pagaduan’s clients, Chief Inspector Sukarno Dicay, reportedly shouted on his way out of the court room: “Sige terminate na ninyo kami (Go ahead, terminate us).” – Aie Balagtas See, John Unson