3rd massacre hearing centers on ‘gory’ footage

The graphic video footage showing mangled bodies of the Maguindanao massacre victims was the center of Wednesday’s hearing on the November 23 carnage – a hearing marked with walkouts and an unexpected trip to the john by one lawyer. “Ako po’y nasuka noong nakita ko yung footage (I threw up after I seeing the footage)," Harry Roque, counsel of one of the victims, told reporters in an interview.

Buluan vice mayor Ismael “Toto" Mangudadatu, who lost his wife and two sisters to the massacre, said he too could not stand seeing the footage. “Di ko kayang panoorin dahil dun sa ginawa sa aking mga mahal sa buhay, sa kapatid ko’t mga kaibigan. Napakasalbahe ng pagkakapatay sa kanila," he said. (I can’t bring myself to watch the footage and see how gruesomely my love ones and friends were killed.) Other relatives of the victims who could not bear watching the footage stormed out of the makeshift courtroom at the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Quezon City. Authentic The footage was taken by Jerry Atanoso, a videographer from the Provincial Planning and Development Office of Sultan Kudarat, on November 24 and 25. He was present during Wednesday’s hearing. Prosecution lawyer Pete Principe said with Atanoso’s testimony, they were able to prove the authenticity of the footage, which showed authorities exhuming the bodies of the victims in a hilly, desolate area in Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman, Ampatuan town. “Napatunayan na ngayon ng prosecution na authentic ang footage dahil kay Jerry (We were able to prove that the footage was authentic because of the videographer)," Principe told reporters during a recess in the trial. The court did not allow the showing of the footage on the first hearing last January 5 because of the absence of the videographer. Atanoso said he shot the video using a government-issued hand-held camera upon orders from Sultan Kudarat Gov. Suharto “Teng" Mangudadatu, a relative of one of the victims. The two tapes - labeled “Tape 1 - Mag. Massacre November 24, 2009" and “Tape 2 - Mag. Massacre November 25, 2009" – were both 90 minutes long and shown in their entirety during the hearing. No grasps, groans Corpses, most of them mangled and dismembered, were graphically shown in both tapes. A scene also showed a backhoe with the name Andal Ampatuan Sr. printed on it. Andal Sr., former Maguindanao governor and patriarch of a powerful political clan, is the father of the case’s primary suspect, Andal Ampatuan Jr. Before the footage was shown, Andal Jr.’s counsel Sigfrid Fortun requested that it be muted, fearing that the “gasps, groans, or commentaries" that would be heard in the video could “influence the viewers [in court] and the presiding judge." Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Presiding Judge Jocelyn Solis Reyes allowed the volume to be turned on but restrained the prosecution and its witness from making commentaries while describing the scenes. Fortun also requested Judge Solis-Reyes to restrain the prosecution from using words like “gruesome" and “gory" in narrating the scenes, saying they were as good as “conclusions."
Commission on Human Rights chair Leila de Lima, who was present at the hearing, said Andal Jr. looked “bored and sleepy" during the entirety of the hearing. “That is always his stance," she said. Andal Jr., during the hearing, was frequently seen yawning, his face without expression. The prosecution will be presenting two more witnesses, including Mohammad Sangki, when the hearing resumes for its fourth session on January 27. - KBK, GMANews.TV