Mistaken arrests mark 4th year since massacre

MANILA, Philippines - Two cases of mistaken arrests of persons tagged in the Maguindanao massacre have been discovered just days before the fourth anniversary of the Nov. 23, 2009 bloodbath.

In a Nov. 8 letter to the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 released yesterday, Director Francisco Uyami of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said there was insufficient evidence to support that suspect Jun Aliman, arrested on Dec. 14, 2011 in Kidapawan City, was the same Sahid Guiamadel charged for the massacre.

The police officer said the real Guiamadel was in fact Arnel Abdullah, who was separately arrested for illegal possession of firearms in Sultan Kudarat on Feb. 22, 2012.

Meanwhile, the prosecution panel is set to meet with the arresting officers of the two men both named Dexson Saptula, to determine the real suspect charged for the incident.

The first Saptula, alias Rene Matuti, was arrested in July 18, 2012 in Sarangani province; while the second, alias Mohammad Adam, was arrested last Nov. 9 in Datu Abdullah Sangki, Maguindanao.

Fooled by informant

In the case of Guiamadel, the CIDG investigation showed that the police officer who arrested Aliman was purposely misled by a certain Utto.

Superintendent Benjamin Silo, acting chief of the CIDG investigation division, said Police Officer 3 Edgar Dingcong of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit-Region 12 admitted that he was “fooled by his informant, who had personal interests and motives against Jun Aliman.”

The investigator said there were pieces of evidence – including sworn statements of various persons – supporting that Guiamadel was indeed Abdullah, who is currently detained at the Sultan Kudarat provincial jail as he is facing another charge.

Silo noted that Aliman had vigorously pursued before the court through appropriate motions for his immediate release on the ground of illegal arrest and mistaken identity, while Abdullah remained mum on the issue.

“This actuation can be safety construed as an admission by silence because human nature when accused of something that is not true would normally break his silence and would oppose it,” said Silo.

Despite the result of the investigation, Aliman – who is presently detained with other suspects in the Maguindanao massacre at the Quezon City Jail-Annex in Camp Bagong Diwa – has yet to be released as an appropriate motion has yet to be filed.

Aliman is one of the only two arrested suspects in the massacre who have yet to be arraigned for the initial 57 counts of murder filed before the special Quezon City court. The other is Talembo Masukat, who is also claiming to be mistakenly arrested.

Two persons, same name

Meanwhile, Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes gave the prosecution and the defense 10 days to comment on the issue involving two suspects named Saptula.

Prosecutor Aristotle Reyes said the meeting with the arresting officers would help them in their next step forward regarding this issue.

Based on court records, the return of warrant on the first Saptula (Matuti) was submitted to the court on Feb. 20, seven months after his supposed arrest in July 18, 2012.

No affidavit of identification was attached to the spot report, which said a certain Nestor Dialangan identified Matuti as the same Saptula. He was already arraigned for the massacre.

On the other hand, the return of warrant on the second Saptula (Adam) was submitted to the court on Nov. 14. It included a joint affidavit of identification of Esmail Guiamad and Pendatun Ali, who said they personally know Adam as Saptula.

Guiamad, along with arresting officer PO1 Teofilo Abubo, appeared during Monday’s hearing.

The return of warrant on Matuti’s arrest was signed by CIDG special operations division chief Senior Superintendent Reczon Tito Acabado, who also informed the court that day of the arrest of Norhato Kamino alias Alfeche Banding and Abedin Alamada alias Kumander Bedi on Oct. 20, 2012 and Nov. 1, 2012, respectively.

The returns for the three suspects were submitted to the court after The STAR reported on the lack of return of warrants on supposedly arrested suspects Alamada, Talembo Masukat, and Nasser Guia.

The return of warrant of Masukat was separately submitted to the court, while the whereabouts of Guia remains unknown.

A total of 108 out of the initial 197 suspects have been arrested by authorities. The list includes Aliman and Matuti, but not Abdullah and Adam.

Fifty-eight people, including 32 media practitioners, died in the massacre.