Backhoe, witness accounts not enough to nail Ampatuans – police
11/26/2009 | 05:57 AM
From the start, witnesses to the infamous "Maguindanao massacre" and the relatives of the victims were already pointing to members of the powerful political clan of the Ampatuans as the brains behind the gruesome crime.
Suspicions of the Ampatuans’ hand in the slaughter were further fueled after authorities learned that a backhoe, reportedly used to bury the bodies but abandoned at the crime scene, belonged to the Maguindanao provincial government, which was dominated by the said clan.
The clan partriarch Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr. has been provincial governor since 2001. He resigned his post last year and was replaced by the vice governor, his son Sajid.
According to Buluan mayor Ibrahim Mangudadatu, whose sister Eden Mangudadatu and sister-in-law Genalyn Tiamzon-Mangudadatu were among those killed in the massacre, the backhoe found at the site even bore the name of the resigned governor.
Buluan Vice Mayor Ismael “Toto" Mangudadatu, the mayor’s brother and Genalyn’s husband, also insisted that Datu Unsay town mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. was right there during the massacre, based on a phone conversation with his wife just before they were cut off.
Police authorities think, however, that all these pieces of "evidence" are still not enough to nail down one of the most powerful and feared clans in the southern Philippines.
In an interview with GMA News' Chino Gaston in Maguindanao, Chief Superintendent Felicisimo Khu said at that stage of their investigation, "no one can be pinpointed [yet]."
Even the corroborating statements of four people that the Mangudadatus claimed to have witnessed the crime could not stand alone as evidence.
Superintendent Arthur Llamas from the legal service of the Philippine National Police clarified that corroborating evidence taken separately are not strong, but if these could corroborate a key piece of evidence, “that would substantiate the filing of charges."
The PNP cautioned the public against referring to the Ampatuans as "suspects," saying they could only be tagged as such once proper documents have been formalized and a case has been filed.
"We are now formalizing all the written documents, maybe tomorrow we can declare it is most proper to term them as possible suspects. When we file the case they are now considered as suspects," said PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina.
Espina also belied earlier reports quoting him as referring to the Ampatuans as "primary suspects."
Llamas of the PNP's legal service, however, admitted that the last phone conversation made by Toto's wife Genalyn to her husband could eventually become evidence against the Ampatuans.
In the supposed conversation, which Genalyn made while they were being stopped on the road by their attackers, she told Toto that Andal Ampatuan Jr. had slapped her.
But Llamas said they would still verify the authenticity of the conversation. "Nobody was able to hear that conversation so the PNP is also in the process in determining whether or not that conversation really happen or existed."
Police said they would try asking a court to order the phone company to produce recordings of the conversation. – Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV
Suspicions of the Ampatuans’ hand in the slaughter were further fueled after authorities learned that a backhoe, reportedly used to bury the bodies but abandoned at the crime scene, belonged to the Maguindanao provincial government, which was dominated by the said clan.
The clan partriarch Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr. has been provincial governor since 2001. He resigned his post last year and was replaced by the vice governor, his son Sajid.
According to Buluan mayor Ibrahim Mangudadatu, whose sister Eden Mangudadatu and sister-in-law Genalyn Tiamzon-Mangudadatu were among those killed in the massacre, the backhoe found at the site even bore the name of the resigned governor.
Buluan Vice Mayor Ismael “Toto" Mangudadatu, the mayor’s brother and Genalyn’s husband, also insisted that Datu Unsay town mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. was right there during the massacre, based on a phone conversation with his wife just before they were cut off.
Police authorities think, however, that all these pieces of "evidence" are still not enough to nail down one of the most powerful and feared clans in the southern Philippines.
In an interview with GMA News' Chino Gaston in Maguindanao, Chief Superintendent Felicisimo Khu said at that stage of their investigation, "no one can be pinpointed [yet]."
Even the corroborating statements of four people that the Mangudadatus claimed to have witnessed the crime could not stand alone as evidence.
Superintendent Arthur Llamas from the legal service of the Philippine National Police clarified that corroborating evidence taken separately are not strong, but if these could corroborate a key piece of evidence, “that would substantiate the filing of charges."
The PNP cautioned the public against referring to the Ampatuans as "suspects," saying they could only be tagged as such once proper documents have been formalized and a case has been filed.
"We are now formalizing all the written documents, maybe tomorrow we can declare it is most proper to term them as possible suspects. When we file the case they are now considered as suspects," said PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina.
Espina also belied earlier reports quoting him as referring to the Ampatuans as "primary suspects."
Llamas of the PNP's legal service, however, admitted that the last phone conversation made by Toto's wife Genalyn to her husband could eventually become evidence against the Ampatuans.
In the supposed conversation, which Genalyn made while they were being stopped on the road by their attackers, she told Toto that Andal Ampatuan Jr. had slapped her.
But Llamas said they would still verify the authenticity of the conversation. "Nobody was able to hear that conversation so the PNP is also in the process in determining whether or not that conversation really happen or existed."
Police said they would try asking a court to order the phone company to produce recordings of the conversation. – Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV
