Eyewitness: Andal Jr. ignored pleas from massacre victims

(Updated 7:20 pm) An eyewitness on Wednesday testified that he saw former Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. lead his armed men in firing at the 57 victims of what is now called the Maguindanao massacre on Nov. 23 last year. At the resumption of the massacre trial at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, Akmad Abubakar Esmael, a 42-year-old farmer from Sitio Masalay, said he witnessed the mass slaughter on a hilly portion of Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town. "Nang nakadapa na sila, sabi ni Unsay [refering to Andal Jr], 'Fire!'" Esmael told the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 presided by Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes. Private prosecutor Nena Santos told GMANews.TV that Esmael's testimony was crucial because, unlike their first two witnesses, he was the only one with a first-hand account of the killings. A total of 196 people are facing charges of multiple murder for the crime, including clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his son Zaldy Ampatuan. Another possible eyewitness of the prosecution, Suwaib Upham, who had said he was among the gunmen, was earlier killed in Maguindanao after he failed to be admitted to the Witness Protection Program. In his testimony, Esmael recalled that between 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on the day of the massacre, he was about to bring his harvest to a corn mill in Sitio Masalay with his carabao when he saw around 30 vehicles arriving in the village. The witness, whose house is located near the crime scene, said he saw Andal Jr. and "more than 100" armed men in fatigue uniforms alight from the vehicles. The victims, mostly belonging to the convoy of the wife of then Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, were ordered to alight from their vehicles and lie down facing the ground, Esmael said. He said he saw Andal Jr. lead the armed men in firing at the victims, some of whom were pleading for their lives. After the first round of shooting, Esmael saw other members of the convoy cry and also beg for mercy. "Datu Unsay, huwag niyo naman kami patayin. Wala naman kaming ginagawa sa inyo," he recalled hearing them as saying. From a photo gallery shown to him by prosecution lawyer Irwin Maraya, Esmael was able to identify three of the victims who were killed by the suspects. One of the three victims was a woman whom the witness described as "medyo mataba at hindi katangkaran." Private prosecutor Santos, legal counsel for the Mangudadatus, later confirmed to GMANews.TV that the woman was Rowena Ante Mangudadatu, Toto's relative. The two other people identified in the photo gallery was a man, whom Esmael said was shot in the mouth, and another who was allegedly shot in various parts of his body. Esmael said he was about two meters away from Rowena and one of the two men when they were killed, and about five meters away from the second man. After the first round of shots, Esmael said he decided to leave the scene, but he heard Andal Jr say: "Hoy, iyong mamang may kalabaw, pabalikin niyo dito." Upon the advice of one of the armed men, however, Esmael proceeded to move away and hide in a grassy area about 200 meters away from the crime scene. "Doon po ako nagtago. Kasi mataas iyon at makikita ko ang nangyari at tinignan ko kung may mangyayari pang iba," he said. Esmael said the shooting lasted for about one hour, and then he saw Andal Jr. and his men get in their vehicles and leave the area. Backhoe operator tried to hide evidence On his way back to his residence not far from the crime site past 3 p.m. Esmael said he chanced upon the backhoe operator reporting to someone over a two-way radio that the heavy equipment had broken down. "Sabi niya, 'Bilisan niyo. Dalhin ang krudo dito at ang prime mover dahil nahuli ang backhoe natin. May ebidensiya,'" the witness recounted the driver as saying over the radio. Esmael said before the backhoe's engine broke down, the driver managed to dig up the pits where the bodies of the victims were dumped. The backhoe was also used to crush the victims' vehicles before these were buried under the ground. He described the backhoe operator as "medyo mataba at may nunal" and added that he was with two other persons. Esmael said he went home to fetch his family and they decided to leave their residence and re-settle at a village evacuation center. Authorities have long been looking for the operators of the backhoes used to dig the mass graves for the victims. The case against the Ampatuan clan had been bolstered by photographs of a backhoe abandoned at the crime site that showed markings indicating it was the property of the provincial government of Maguindanao. Clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr, a co-accused in the crime, was the provincial governor at the time of the massacre. — RSJ/YA, GMANews.TV