Police to look for possible 58th victim in massacre site

In an attempt to recover the body of a missing journalist, a possible 58th victim in the November 23 massacre, police on Monday said it would conduct another retrieval operation in the massacre site at barangay Salman, Datu Unsay Ampatuan town, Maguindanao province. "May another retrieval operations na gagawin that includes yung mga gamit ng biktima (We will conduct another retrieval operation that includes some personal effects of the victim)," said Maguindanao provincial director Senior Superintendent Alex Meneses in the report of GMA News’ Cesar Apolinario. The report, however, did not say when the operations would start. The number of bodies that police investigators reported as found at the crime scene is 57. Ronaldo Momay of the Midland Review News had reportedly been part of the caravan during that fateful day, but his body has not been found and his name was not included in the list of casualties. However, an independent forensic expert deputized by the Commission on Human Rights raised the possibility of confirming Momay as the 58th victim, after an upper denture that reportedly belonged to him was found at the crime scene.
Momay, a photographer of the Midland News Review, was part of the group of some 30 media workers that accompanied the female members and lawyers of the Mangudadatu clan, on their way to Shariff Aguak, capital town of Maguindanao province, to register Buluan town Vice Mayor Ismael Mangudadatu as gubernatorial candidate. In a desperate attempt to find the missing Momay, his colleague Vivian Migullas on Monday trekked back to the remote hillside of barangay Salman in Ampatuan town, where the mass killing took place. “Gusto ko, kung maari sana, mahukay pa yung katawan niya kasi lagi nagbalik-balik sa opisina namin yung pamilya (If possible, I wish his body can still be retrieved because his family repeatedly comes to our office)," Migullas said. Carrying a face towel to wipe her tears, Migullas went on with the search, starting with the 10-foot deep hillside graves, where many of the victims and their vehicles were buried with the use of a backhoe. “Bebot, nandito ako," Migullas shouted, using Momay’s nickname, “Bebot saan ka banda?" (Bebot, I am here. Bebot where are you?) “Ang dami-dami nilang pinatay dito...ang kasama ko hindi pa nakita (So many of them were killed here, yet my colleague has not yet been found)," she added. The hour-long attempt yielded negative results, however. The colleague whom Migullas fondly calls Bebot remained missing and unaccounted for. – Aie Balagtas See/JV, GMANews.TV