Maguindanao vice gov, 11 others charged with murder

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Murder charges were filed yesterday against the vice governor and two town mayors of Maguindanao and nine others for the killing of a vice mayor in front of his townhouse in this city last November.

The murder charges were filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Manila by Fatima Ruth Tomawis, wife of slain Vice Mayor Alexander Tomawis of Barira, Maguindanao. Mrs. Tomawis is the mayor of Buldon town, also in Maguindanao.

According to lawyer Mimbalawag Mangutara Jr., legal counsel of the Tomawis family, charged were Maguindanao Vice Gov. Dustin Mastura and his father Tucao Mastura and brother Armando Mastura, mayors of the Maguindanao towns of Sultan Kudarat and Sultan Mastura, respectively.

The other respondents were Khadaffy Osmena, Datu Teng Diocolano, Commander Laban Ibrahim Conding, Ustadz Ali Limbona, Rosalim Bangon, Ibrahim Tucas, Abu Talib, Hadji Gafur alias Garbi, Hadji Abdula Oranto and several John Does.

Mangutara said they were expecting a DOJ panel, not just a prosecutor, to handle the case.

“I do believe that a panel will hear it and not just one prosecutor given how influential the suspects are,” Mangutara said.

Tomawis was considered to be one of the development-oriented leaders of Maguindanao. He was behind the setting up of an emergency response center in the province that was patterned after Davao City’s Central 911 emergency response system.

Tomawis was said to be close to former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr., detained for the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre that claimed the lives of 58 people, including 30 journalists.

The murder charges were reportedly based on the results of the investigation conducted by the police-led Task Force Tomawis.

Tomawis was gunned down in front of his rented townhouse along Hillside Drive here by two men who pretended to have brought some documents for him to sign.