Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Andal Ampatuan Jr. carried out massacre, says witness

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/182584/andal-ampatuan-jr-carried-out-massacre-says-witness

SOPHIA M. DEDACE, GMANews.TV
01/27/2010 | 01:34 PM

Andal Ampatuan Jr. carried out the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao province last November 23, having ordered victims to lie face down and later checking their faces one by one before they were brought to a nearby hill and gunned to death.

The Datu Unsay town mayor's black pick-up was at the scene of the bloodbath, with two women forced to enter the vehicle at one point before the killings, witness Mohammad Sangki told a Quezon City court on Wednesday.

Mohammad, a Sangguinang Bayan official in Datu Abdullah Sangki town in Maguindanao, corroborated the testimony of his nephew, Amapatuan town Vice-Mayor Rasul Sangki, who took the witness stand two weeks ago.

The court is hearing multiple murder charges against Ampatuan Jr., who has applied for bail.

In his testimony, Mohammad claimed to have received a call on November 19 from Datu Bahnarin Ampatuan — Ampatuan Jr.'s brother and mayor of Mamasapano town — ordering him to deploy a police auxiliary force in Crossing Saniag until December 2.

Crossing Saniag is in Ampatuan town, an area two minutes away from the Sitio Malating checkpoint where the convoy led by the wife of Buluan Vice Mayor Ismael "Toto" Mangudadatu was ambushed last November 23.

Police deployment

Mohammad Sangki said Bahnarin had told him to coordinate with Tammy Masukat, a Sangguniang Bayan member in Mamasapano town, for the police deployment.

He told the court presided by Judge Jocelyn Solis Reyes that Masukat had told him the police team was in preparation for the convoy coming from Buluan town.

A day later, on November 20, he and Masukat went to the home of Ampatuan Jr. in Shariff Aguak, where the mayor gave him P15,000 to buy food for the police team at Crossing Saniag.

During the weekend of November 21 and 22, Mohammad said he was with his family in Datu Odin Sinsuat town.

On the morning of November 23, the witness said he was surprised that several checkpoints had been set up in Ampatuan town.

He then went to the Sangguniang Bayan in Ampatuan town capitol, where he saw his nephew, Vice-Mayor Raul Sangki. The two went to Crossing Saniag, where they both saw Ampatuan Jr. with several armed men.

At about 10 a.m. that day, Mohammad and Rasul proceeded to Sitio Malating in a car to meet with Ampatuan Jr.'s group.

He said his nephew had told him that the convoy of the Mangudadatus was already there.

Mohammad said he saw two women being forced to enter Andal Jr.'s black pick-up.

He also said he saw the convoy's passengers being forced to lie face down, with Andal Jr. checking their faces one by one.

The convoy was later told to proceed to Sitio Malasay, two kilometers away from the checkpoint.

According to Mohammad, Rasul had told him to remain on the highway. Rasul then went with Ampatuan Jr. (See Andal Sr. hatched Nov. 23 massacre — witness)

After hearing successive gunfire for 30 minutes, Rasul returned and told him that the shooting had been orchestrated by Ampatuan Jr., Datu Kanor Ampatuan, Datu Bahnarin Ampatuan, a certain Datu Uka and the armed men they were with.

The trial was ongoing as of posting time.

Expected to testify later in the day is Toto Mangudadatu himself. It will be his first time to take the witness stand. His wife Genalyn was among those killed in the massacre.

Earlier in the day, Geoffrey Lizada of Smart Communications, Inc. authenticated the billing statement of Genalyn from November 17 to December 18, 2009.

Genalyn supposedly phoned her husband that she had seen Ampatuan Jr., his husband's political rival, among the men who had blocked the convoy. — NPA, RJAB Jr./GMANews.TV

Andal Jr. to face Mangudadatu at trial

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/182560/andal-jr-to-face-mangudadatu-at-trial

01/27/2010 | 09:15 AM

Andal Ampatuan Jr., the key suspect in the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao last November 23, appeared relaxed on Wednesday hours before his court showdown with the husband of one of the victims.

The mayor of Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao smiled at media and even held up his handcuffs before being whisked before dawn to the venue of his ongoing trial.

Earlier, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said a prosecution witness would shake Ampatuan's camp at Wednesday's hearing.

"Our case is going smoothly and every week we present new evidence. Today we will present an eyewitness, an official from one of the Maguindanao towns, to shake up the defense," NBI spokesman and lawyer Ricardo Diaz told dwIZ radio in Filipino.

The mayor was also to have his first court confrontation with Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, whose wife Genalyn was among the victims of the gruesome Nov. 23 bloodbath.

Mangudadatu was expected to testify against the mayor's petition for bail.

A report on dwIZ radio said Ampatuan, wearing a pink polo and denim pants, appeared nonchalant at the NBI while a team checked his blood pressure.

The mayor was handcuffed and made to wear a bulletproof vest, as in past instances when he was whisked to the trial venue at Camp Crame.

Security remained tight for the mayor as he left the NBI headquarters in Manila towards the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame.

Radio dzBB's Carlo Mateo reported that the trip had taken some 14 minutes as the NBI, Manila Police District, and PNP Highway Patrol Group escorts cleared the path.

The convoy bearing the mayor arrived at Camp Crame before 6:30 a.m.

At Crame, dzBB's Sam Nielsen reported that 300 policemen were placed on full alert inside and outside the police camp.

Security was also tight for media, who were allowed to enter on a first-come-first-served basis.

Outside Camp Crame, Quezon City police were in full battle gear while yellow steel railings were placed near the two security gates. — NPA, GMANews.TV

Police witness in massacre case in trouble for going AWOL

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/182508/police-witness-in-massacre-case-in-trouble-for-going-awol

01/26/2010 | 04:48 PM

A police lieutenant considered as a potential witness in the Maguindanao massacre case is in hot water for going to the Justice Department office in Manila to seek protective custody without informing his custodians in Camp Crame about it.

Inspector Rex Ariel Diongon was reported missing last Friday and was declared Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL), according to Senior Superintendent Benito Estipona, deputy chief for operations of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

“We found out yesterday [Monday] that he is at the [Department of Justice] seeking protective custody under the witness protection program. [But] he was already declared AWOL so he might face administrative charges for not informing his custodians of his whereabouts," Estipona said.

Section 3, paragraph (d) of Republic Act No. 6981, however, states that a law enforcement officer cannot be admitted into the Witness Protection Program although the immediate members of his or her family may avail themselves of the protection provided for under the particular law.

ARMM police

Before learning of Diongon’s whereabouts, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Police (ARMM) Regional Police, which supervises his restriction, gave him until last Monday to surface.

Estipona said they turned Diongon over to the ARMM Police after getting his statements regarding the massacre.

Senior Superintendent Salik Macapantar, operations chief of the ARMM Police, said they immediately alerted their forces in the region upon learning of Diongon’s disappearance in Camp Crame.

"We have ordered police forces to search for Diongon and take him in custody immediately if he returns to Mindanao," he said, adding that his phone calls to Diongon were all left unanswered.

Diongon, commander of the 1508th Provincial Police Mobile Group, was among those manning the checkpoint where the ill-fated convoy in the massacre passed last Nov. 23. At least 57 people were killed in the carnage blamed on the powerful Ampatuan clan.

Diongon affidavit

Estipona said Diongon pinned Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. when the police officer executed his affidavit in connection with the November 23 massacre.

A total of 206 respondents, including 66 policemen, were recommended for filing of multiple murder charges with the DOJ in connection with the massacre. Of these, only three – Andal Jr. and militiamen Takpan Dilon and Esmael Canapia – have so far been formally charged by the department.

Dilon and Canapia, both members of the Civilian Volunteer Organization (CVO), were charged after the firearms seized from them matched with the shells found in the massacre site. - with Al Jacinto/KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV

Gibo dares Ampatuan lawyer: Sue me over weapons fiasco

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/182439/gibo-dares-ampatuan-lawyer-sue-me-over-weapons-fiasco


AIE BALAGTAS SEE, GMANews.TV
01/25/2010 | 09:08 PM

Administration presidential bet Gilberto Teodoro Jr. on Monday dared the lawyer of the Ampatuan family to charge him in court over his alleged involvement in the proliferation of loose firearms in Maguindanao province.

“I am daring him to file charges against me in court. And he better present strong documentary and physical evidence to back up his allegations," said Teodoro, a former Defense secretary.

Teodoro reiterated that the accusation hurled against him by lawyer Philip Pantojan was baseless.

Pantojan had earlier said that Teodoro should be charged for allegedly having a hand in the arming of the Ampatuan political dynasty.

The Ampatuans, some of whom occupy key local government positions in Maguindanao, are implicated in the Nov. 23 massacre of at least 57 people in the town named after them.

Pantojan said it was under Teodoro’s watch as Defense chief that the Civilian Volunteers Organization (CVOs), which reportedly comprised the Ampatuans’ private army, was armed by the national government.

GMANews.TV sought Pantojan's side on Teodoro's challenge but the lawyer declined to comment on the issue.

During the eight-day imposition of martial law in Maguindanao early December, security forces seized around 1,500 pieces of high-powered rifles, machine guns, mortars, and assorted weaponry near and inside some of the Amptuans’ properties.

In a vacant lot in Barangay Poblacion Tres in Shariff Aguak, the recovered weapons bore the markings “Department of Defense (DND) Arsenal" and “Arms Corporation of the Philippines."

Teodoro said the Defense Department has no policy for the issuance of weapons to civilian armed groups.

“It is clear that the Defense Department has no operational control over the distribution of firearms and ammunition to the units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines," Teodoro stressed.

The military is currently conducting an investigation on the alleged pilferage of firearms and ammunition. - KBK, GMANews.TV

Moro rebels, groups hit Ampatuan party-list

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/moro-rebels-groups-hit-ampatuan-party-list



A PARTY-LIST group now seeking votes in the May elections is criticized by the Moro rebels and civil society groups as the Ampatuan clan’s “front” that seeks to benefit members of the family alone.

In a report by Luwaran.com, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said the party-list Adhikain ng Dakilang Anak ng Maharlika (Adam) represented by Department of Energy (DOE) Undersecretary Zamzamin Ampatuan is aimed at benefiting the Ampatuan family.

The Luwaran report based its story on the statement issued by a certain Ma. Cecilia L. Rodriguez and was emailed to the MILF. It was learned that Rodriguez writes for the Philippine Daily Inquirer and is involved in various non-government organizations.

"We, in the civil society organizations here in Mindanao, cannot stop wondering why a party-list organization, such as the one organized by the Ampatuans, can acquire accreditation where in fact it does not qualify as a marginalized sector and it was organized mainly for the benefit of the Ampatuan clan," the statement read.

"[Undersecretary] Zam and Andal Sr. had come a long way in deceiving our government with their schemes in providing alternative views of the Bangsamoro problem. Back in early 2000, their campaign was to fight the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). They used broadcast media to expose the corruptions in the ranks of the MILF and their clinging to Islamic extremism. It was a noble cause at first. Their fight was able to convince many Maguindanaons that it was the right thing to do to stop the MILF. It convinced the datus and big clans to form alliance with them and fight the MILF. But, the fight is for the benefit of the Ampatuan clan and the family of Andal Sr.," it added.

The statement added that in June 2009, Andal Sr. gave the blessing for Zamzamin Ampatuan to organize his party-list organization named Adam.

It also said that the first division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) handled the Adam's petition for accreditation. On August 17, 2009, Adam was filed with the Clerk of the Comelec, and in November 2009, Adam was accredited as a party-list organization approved by Commissioner Rene Sarmiento.

Sun.Star Davao tried to get the reaction of Zamzamin Ampatuan on the issue but his aide said it would be better if it be discussed extensively over coffee.

Maharlika is a Sanskrit word meaning "noble". Its equivalent term among Moros and Indios during the pre-Spanish times was "datu", a term or title that is still retained and practiced among the former and in recent centuries by the indigenous peoples in Mindanao.

In its older context, maharlikas or datus were the ruling elites, the powerful, and the wealthy. Today, they are still largely the ruling groups in most Moro provinces in Mindanao. Even in the Philippines today, many or most of those elected into the higher echelon of government are descendants of former maharlikas.

Roughly translated, Adhikain ng Dakilang Anak ng Maharlika is rendered into English as "Aspiration of the great son of the noble or datu". (BOT/With PR)

------------

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on January 26, 2010.

Anger, justice after massacre's 2nd month

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/anger-justice-after-massacres-2nd-month

By Ben O. Tesiorna

ANGER and thirst for justice still reigned among those who attended the second month commemoration of the November 23 Maguindanao massacre that killed 57 people, including 30 journalists.

In a visit to the massacre site at Sitio Masalay of Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town, relatives, friends and supporters of the victims are one in demanding justice for the victims of the most gruesome election-related violence in the country.


Family and relatives of the massacre victims went to Sitio Masalay on Saturday, along with around 500 delegates of the National Interfaith Mission for Justice and Peace in Maguindanao that also gathered lawyers, human rights workers, progressive groups, and journalists together.

Initiated by Kalinaw Mindanao, the mission aimed to continue the call for justice by remembering the victims of the massacre. Part of the mission is to visit the site.

"The mission will also document further accounts on the incident that will be of use in the pursuit of the case against the suspects of the massacre and in demanding accountability from all levels of government found complicit or negligent in the crime," said the Kalinaw Mindanao paper.

The participants of the mission will conduct interviews with families of victims, military officials and civilian residents in Maguindanao.

Lawyer Carlos Isagani Zarate, of the Alliance Against Impunity in Mindanao and one of the convenors of Kalinaw Mindanao, said the November 23 massacre showed the link between the suspects’ brutality and the kind of government the Philippines has.

"Our aim is not only to further expose the brutality of the butchers of massacre but more importantly, to unmask the monstrous complicity of the Arroyo government, its culpability in backing not just the private armies of the warlord Ampatuans but also in maintaining the public army--the AFP--that has engendered the violence," said Zarate, also the secretary general of the Union of People's Lawyers in Mindanao.

"This journey is also a show of solidarity with the families of the victims. All of us here lost a family, a colleague and a friend on that fateful day of the massacre, and we are united in fighting for justice and in saying that we will never forget this incident," Zarate added.

Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo, who joined the mission, said justice will only be delivered for the victims of the massacre if more and more people from all sectors will come together and pressure the National Government.

"Condemnation of the massacre must continue until justice will be served. And efforts to end impunity in Maguindanao must not even end if justice is finally served because we all know that there could be more victims of human rights abuses and killings in this province," Ocampo said.

He said there is a need for the government to really show its sincerity in dismantling private armies that are local official’s killing machinery.

The government, he said, must also show that it has the capacity to protect and serve its people.

"Massive decay of injustice happens when the justice system is partial. If this injustice continues, he said, the people's anger and disgust against the government will remain," he added.

---------------

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on January 26, 2010.

7 soldiers hurt in roadside bombing in NCotabato

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/182550/7-soldiers-hurt-in-roadside-bombing-in-ncotabato


01/26/2010 | 11:24 PM


MAKILALA, North Cotabato - Seven soldiers, including an official, were injured in roadside landmine blast in this town Tuesday evening, police said.

“The victims are on the way to their camp in Barangay (village) Old Bulatukan after playing basketball when the military truck they were riding accidentally hit the explosive," said Chief Inspector Jerson Birrey, the town’s chief of police.

The explosion occurred at about 6 p.m. in Barangay Old Bulatukan, some 150 meters away from the military camp.

Hurt in the incident were Cpl. Geruel Hipe; Pfc. Levie Faranal; Pfc. Josel Miravalles; Pfc. Ariel Tambagan; Pfc. John Edward Tangub and Pfc. Jester Pancho, all members of the 57th Infantry Battalion Bravo Company of the Philippine Army.

The company's commanding officer, who has yet to be identified as of posting time, was hit by a shrapnel in the shoulder.

Birrey said the wounded soldiers were brought to the Makilala Medical Specialist Center where they were pronounced out of danger.

Bomb experts in North Cotabato recovered some electrical wires, masking tapes and pieces of shrapnel from the blast site.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. - Williamor Magbanua/KBK, GMANews.TV

Abu Sayyafs, rouge Moro rebels bomb another bridge

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/zamboanga/abu-sayyafs-rouge-moro-rebels-bomb-another-bridge

By Bong Garcia

COMBINED forces of the Abu Sayyaf group and rouge Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) detonated Saturday an improvised bomb, damaging a bridge in Sulu province.

Brigadier General Rustico Guerrero, Joint Task Force Comet (JTFC) chief, said the explosion took place around 2:30 p.m. in the village of Bato-Bato, Indanan town, hitting the Talatak Bridge.


Guerrero said the combined bandits and rouge MNLF rebels led by Tahil Sali and Abraham Joel set off the improvised bomb to prevent the government troops from advancing.

The explosion happened at the height of a firefight, which ensued when the troops responded to a report from civilians about the presence of heavily armed men placing an unidentified package at the Talatak Bridge.

He said no one among the troops were either killed or injured during the explosion and firefight.

The bandits and rebels then fled towards an MNLF camp in Sitio Marang, Barangay Buansa in Indanan, Guerrero said.

Three days before the bombing, the same rebel groups attacked Marine troops guarding the Baitamal Bridge in Indanan Town.

The Baitamal Bridge is located just a kilometer away from Talatak Bridge.

Troops were deployed to secure the workers who are undertaking the repair works on Talatak Bridge, Guerrero said.

----------

Intel: Missile kills Filipino militant in Pakistan

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100121/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_militant_killed



By ISHTIAQ MAHSHUD, Associated Press Writer Ishtiaq Mahshud, Associated Press Writer


DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – A Filipino militant wanted by the United States is believed to have been killed in an American drone strike close to the Afghan border earlier this month, Pakistani intelligence officials said Thursday.

If confirmed, the death of Abdul Basit Usman would represent another success for the U.S. covert missile program on targets in Pakistan. There have been an unprecedented number of attacks this month following a deadly Dec. 30 militant attack on a CIA base in Afghanistan.

Two military intelligence officers in northwestern Pakistan said Usman was believed killed on Jan. 14 on the border of Pakistan's South and North Waziristan tribal regions. Another 11 militants were also killed in the strike on a militant compound. Authorities have previously said the attack had targeted the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud.

There had been no previous indication Usman was in Pakistan. If the reports of his death in Pakistan are true, it may indicate stronger ties between al-Qaida and Southeast Asian terrorist groups than previously thought.

The U.S. State Department's list of most-wanted terrorists identifies Usman as a bomb-making expert with links to the Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf militant group and the Southeast Asian Jemaah Islamiyah network. It puts a bounty of U.S. $1 million for information leading to his conviction, and says he is believed responsible for bombings in the southern Philippines in 2006 and 2007 that killed 15 people.

Waziristan and other parts of Pakistan's border region have long been home to militants from all over the world, primarily Arabs and central Asians. Up to several hundred Filipino and other Southeast Asian militants traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan in the 1980s and '90s to fight the Soviets and attend al-Qaida run camps, but they are no longer believed to be in the region in significant numbers.

The apparent presence of Usman in Waziristan may raise fresh questions as to links between al-Qaida in Pakistan and militants in Southeast Asia, which has seen several bloody bombings and failed extremist plots since 2000. Many were carried out by militants who had returned from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Pakistani officials cited militant informers as the source of the information on Usman's death — which could not be independently confirmed. One of them said Usman had been in Waziristan for one year after arriving from Afghanistan. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media on the record.

In the Philippines, two senior intelligence officials said they were unaware of any report regarding Usman's death. A U.S. military official based in the southern Philippines, the stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, said he also had not received any report. They too spoke on condition of anonymity.

Pakistani government officials, who rarely confirm the identities of those killed in U.S. attacks, were not available for comment late Thursday. Islamabad publicly complains about the missile strikes because admitting to cooperating with the United States would be politically damaging, but it is believed to provide intelligence for many of them.

U.S. officials, also, do not often talk about the missile strikes or their targets, but they have in the past confirmed the deaths of several mid- and high-level al-Qaida and Taliban fighters.

Most of the missiles are fired from unmanned drone aircraft launched from Afghanistan.

Visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was asked about the drone program during an interview with local Express TV.

"I'm not going to discuss operations but I will say this: These unmanned aerial vehicles have been extremely useful to us, both in Iraq and in Afghanistan," he said.

Gates said he is expanding the program by buying more of the aircraft. He also said the United States was considering ways to share intelligence with the Pakistani military, including possibly giving it U.S.-made drones for intelligence and reconnaissance purposes.

U.S. officials said Gates was referring to a proposed deal for 12 unarmed Shadow aircraft. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military cooperation.

___

Associated Press writers Jim Gomez in the Philippines and Chris Brummitt and Anne Gearan in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Featured Posts

AFP Modernization 2017: Highlights and Review

The modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines was on a roll this year, as we've seen a few big ticket items having completely...

Popular Posts