Witness testimony vs. Ampatuan difficult to discredit, lawyer says

A lawyer representing 10 journalists killed in the Maguindanao massacre has expressed confidence that the testimony of Ampatuan town vice mayor Rasul Sangki against the powerful and Arroyo-allied Ampatuan clan would be difficult to discredit. “It’s very difficult to dispute the testimony of someone who was there and who saw [the crime] with his own two eyes," said lawyer Harry Roque, referring to Sangki, the first eye witness presented by the prosecution. During the resumption of the court hearing on the massacre, Sangki said he witnessed the incident from the time Andal Jr. and his private army intercepted the convoy led by the wife of Buluan town Vice Mayor Ismael “Toto" Mangudadatu, up to the time the victims were killed at a nearby hill. Sangki also claimed that patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr. supposedly masterminded the crime and ordered his son and namesake Andal Jr. to carry out the killings. He also told the court he had seen Andal Jr. shoot two women and a journalist he identified as Jimmy “Pal-ak" Cabillo. The accused allegedly used an M-16 armalite where an M-203 grenade launcher was attached. The testimony only proves that the massacre happened and Andal Jr. participated in it, Roque said. "Malinaw na nagkaroon ng patayan at tingin ko malinaw ngayon na isa dun sa pumatay ay si Unsay [It is clear that killings took place and that one of the killers is Unsay]," he said referring to Andal Jr. In his affidavit executed last year, Sangki also said that he overheard former Andal Sr. reminding Andal Jr. what to do with the Mangudadatus, their rival political clan. He likewise said Andal Jr. and his militiamen had fired at the bodies of the victims to make sure they were dead. Sangki denied having shot any of the victims. - with reports from Aie Balagtas See, RJAB Jr./GMANews.TV