47 cops join Ampatuans at Taguig jail facility

The Metro Manila District Jail in Taguig City on Saturday turned more crowded than it used to be, with the arrival of 47 more suspects – all of them Maguindanao policemen – in the November 23 massacre in Ampatuan town. The policemen arrived at the detention facility in Bicutan past 9 a.m. from the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center, where they had been detained since they were arrested. As of this posting, the 47 police officers are undergoing medical examination, according to a radio report. Five more suspects remained at the PNP Custodial Center, pending completion of processes being undertaken by the Criminal Investigation Detection Group (CIDG). "Pagkatapos ng interview sa kanila ng CIDG, dadalhin sil dito," said Chief Superintendent Rommel Heredia, chief of the PNP Headquarters. The PNP said it only received a commitment order from the court Thursday. Their transfer of the suspects came barely 12 hours after members of the Ampatuan family, including clan patriarch Andal Sr, were transferred to the same jail facility in Bicutan Friday night. [See: More Ampatuans arrive at Taguig jail facility] Datu Unsay mayor Andal Jr. was the first to be transferred to Bicutan on Thursday from the National Bureau of Investigation's detention facility in Manila. Though all detained inside the Metro Manila District Jail, the Ampatuans and the policemen are staying in separate detention cells at the fourth floor of the facility. A court room on the first floor will be used when hearing for the multiple murder case resumes on April 21. The 52 policemen's detention at the Custodial Center had prevented the PNP from accommodating the transfer of the 38 members of the so-called Morong 43, the 43 health workers arrested last February on suspicion of being members of the New People's Army. They were said to have been caught participating in a bomb-making training, a claim the health workers denied. The court ordered transfer of the health workers at the PNP Custodial Center did not push through because the police detention cell was already overcrowded with more than 140 inmates, even as the facility is only supposed to hold 96. [See: 38 health workers brought to Crame, and back to Capinpin] Despite the transfer of the policemen implicated in the Ampatuan massacre, the PNP feared the Morong 43 might still not be accommodated at the Custodial Center. "Kahit tinanggal na ang Ampatuan contingent, ganoon pa rin iyan. Tangent na tangent. Siniksik nga lang namin yan eh. Mahihirapan pa rin kami. Kung baga sa sinehan, all seats taken," Heredia said. —LBG, GMANews.TV