Witness accuses Fortun of bribery

MANILA, Philippines - A military intelligence officer one of the first to arrive at the Maguindanao massacre site  accused defense lawyer Philip Sigfrid Fortun yesterday of offering him P2 million in exchange for his testimony and copies of reports and videos made on the crime scene. 

1Lt. Rolly Stefen Gempesao also claimed a high-ranking military official – Gen. Jose Mabanta – called him up and tried to facilitate a meeting between him and Fortun. Mabanta and Fortun denied the allegations.

Gempesao, who was an intelligence officer of the Army’s 64th Infantry Battalion at the time the massacre happened, testified before Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes as a prosecution witness yesterday and claimed Fortun’s call to his cell phone happened in the second week of February 2010.

Gempesao said the caller identified himself as Fortun and asked him about his affidavit on the incident, particularly about the time his group accosted suspects Takpan Dilon and Esmael Kanapa on the morning of Nov. 23, 2009.

“I recognized the voice to be his (Fortun’s) since I often saw him in the news,” Gempesao told The STAR on the sidelines of the hearing.

He said the caller asked for a copy of the videos and affidavits he executed before the National Bureau of Investigation, but he told the caller to secure them from the proper authorities since they were already part of public record. He also said Fortun’s law firm sent two lawyers to ask for the videos and reports in January 2010.

Gempesao said the caller asked to meet him in Iligan City, telling him, “I know your need is great. Is P2 million enough?”

He told the caller, “If you think you can bribe me, I’m not like that. I’m sorry.”

Fortun, who represents primary suspects Andal Ampatuan Sr. and Andal Ampatuan Jr., denied making the call and said he does not know Gempesao’s cell phone number.

“I don’t know about that P2 million,” he told The STAR on the sidelines of the hearing.

He said Gempesao can be reached through the military’s Judge Advocate General’s Office. Fortun noted that as early as January 2010, they told the court they wanted to include him among their witnesses for the defense.

Fortun questioned Gempesao’s testimony yesterday, particularly on the events that happened after the massacre, saying they should not be part of court records.

The judge struck from the records Gempesao’s testimony on his alleged phone conversation with Mabanta. The prosecution argued that Gempesao’s testimony proves the “conspiracy” in the case.

Gempesao was part of the team that first went to the massacre site in Sitio Masalay following reports that the members of the Mangudadatu convoy were kidnapped.

He said their team were told by those at a police checkpoint that no abduction occurred, but his team later accosted Dilon and Kanapa, who were wearing camouflage shirts and carrying firearms as they came from the hilltop. The two claimed they were members of the police auxiliary force.

When Gempesao asked why their guns appeared to have just been fired, as shown by the gunpowder burns, Dilon and Kanapa told him they had been “hunting.”

At the exact site of the massacre, their team eventually saw a number of vehicles and a backhoe along with several dead bodies. “I feel so bad. We were told there was no incident and (yet) there were dead bodies lying,” Gempesao said.