Cops in massacre case switching sides?

MANILA, Philippines - Some policemen who are being eyed as state witnesses in the “Maguindanao massacre” trial are reportedly siding with the Ampatuans.

This has caused a reported “confrontation” among several policemen indicted in the case as some of them still intend to become witnesses for the prosecution.

Chief Inspector Ermilito Moral, officer-in-charge of the Quezon City Jail Annex at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig, recently asked Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes to separate Chief Inspector Sukarno Dicay from the other indicted policemen following the incident.

In his letter to Solis-Reyes, Moral cited a “misunderstanding” between Dicay and other police officers regarding their stand on the case happened.

“That these inmates are considered by the government as state prosecution witness(es) but some of them are thinking (about) their stand and they are allegedly switching their disposition in favor of the Ampatuan(s),” Moral told Solis-Reyes.

It was not clear, though, who among the policemen were switching sides. According to Moral, this “creates an atmosphere of mistrust and betrayal” among the policemen.

Moral said his unit has no more cells to place Dicay to separate from the other detainees. He asked Solis-Reyes to order the “immediate transfer” of Dicay to either the Metro Manila District Jail, also at Camp Bagong Diwa or the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame.

Moral said Dicay’s transfer was needed “as part of our pre-emptive measures to avoid an untoward incident that may occur.”

Fifty-seven people were killed in the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao province. Among the 196 people who are being tried for multiple murder are members of the Ampatuan clan.