DOJ pushes murder raps vs Andal Sr, 196 others

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday recommended the filing of 57 counts of murder against Andal Ampatuan Sr. and 197 others who allegedly had direct and indirect participation in the Nov. 23 massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao province. In a 78-page resolution, the panel of prosecutors from the DOJ said that all elements of murder were present in the carnage, considered as the worst case of political violence in the country, in Sitio Masalay in Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town. Aside from Andal Sr., also recommended charged with multiple murder were his sons Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan, and Maguindanao Gov. Sajid Ampatuan, as well as 11 other members of the powerful clan. Sixty-two policemen and four soldiers were included in the list of respondents. Andal Sr. is currently detained at the Camp Panacan Hospital in Davao City, while other Ampatuan clan members linked to the massacre were also arrested and confined in military camps. Andal Jr. is detained at the NBI headquarters in Manila. Shortly after the massacre, the local police of Maguindanao underwent a major revamp after most of its officials were either relieved or replaced. The eight-prosecutor panel enumerated the circumstances required – treachery, cruelty, and pre-meditation – before the killings could be considered as murders. "From the witnesses presented by complainants, it can be deduced that the commission of the crime was planned deliberately by the perpetrators and that, until its consummation, there was an inexorable resolve to kill," the resolution said. Another qualifying circumstance cited was the reliance on armed men, as evidenced by the presence of about 100 members of the Ampatuan clan's supposed private army. The recommendation to charge the suspects with several counts of murder stemmed from the separate complaints filed before the DOJ by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG). Andal Jr. and his brother Datu Sajid Islam and Ampatuan clan members Datu Kanor, Datu Anwar, Datu Saudi Jr, Datu Ulo, Datu Ipi, Datu Harris and Datu Moning among others, allegedly had direct participation in the massacre, the prosecution panel added. It added that Andal Sr., Zaldy and three other clan members connived with the executors of the bloodbath. The DOJ panel also said there was "viable evidence" that the local police and the military "dipped their fingers in the preparation and subsequent consummation of the despicable killings of the victims." Andal Jr, detained at the NBI headquarters in Manila, is being tried by a Quezon City court for 56 counts of murder, to which he had pleaded not guilty. Andal Sr. is detained at the Camp Panacan Hospital in Davao City while Zaldy Ampatuan is detained at Camp Lira in General Santos City. The other Ampatuans are detained at Camp Siongco in Maguindanao. - LBG/KBK, GMANews.TV