Cop in Ampatuan massacre admits fabricated affidavit

A police official implicated in the November 23 massacre in Maguindanao province on Wednesday admitted that his first affidavit about the incident was fabricated to cover up the killings and its perpetrators, which included members of the influential Ampatuan clan. Police Inspector Rex Ariel Diongon, the prosecution's fourth witness and a prospective state witness, told a Quezon City court that it was the top official of the provincial police and not him who prepared his supposed affidavit executed on November 24, a day after the massacre. The said affidavit, allegedly prepared by Senior Superintendent Abusama Maguid, stated that the checkpoint at Sitio Malatin on November 19 was set up not to block an electoral convoy of the Ampatuans' rival clan, the Mangudadatus, but to respond to a bomb threat. "Ang sabihin daw namin ay dumating kami sa Sitio Malatin ng 11:30 a.m. para rumesponde sa bomb threat para hindi na kami madamay sa imbestigasyon (We were told to claim that we arrived at Sitio Malatin at 11:30 a.m. to respond to a bomb threat so that we will not be included in the investigation)," Diongon said. Diongon was also instructed to say that the supposed bomb threat was reported to police authorities by two motorists riding in tandem. But Diongon claimed, as did another prosecution witness, farmer Norodin Mauyag, that the checkpoint was used to block members of an electoral convoy of then Datu Unsay vice mayor Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu, whose wife and sisters were among the 57 victims of the massacre. On November 26 – or two days after executing the supposedly fabricated affidavit – Diongon left Maguindanao. On November 29, he arrived at the Philippine National headquarters in Camp Crame. 2nd affidavit At the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) section of Camp Crame, Diongon said he executed a second affidavit with six pages, containing what he claimed were the correct details about the incident. Apart from those two, Diongon also executed three more affidavits: a one-page December 5 affidavit containing the list of names of his subordinates who accompanied him at the checkpoint; and a seven-page and four-page supplemental affidavits dated January 12 and 25, respectively. All affidavits were submitted to the court and were marked as exhibits. Diongon's statement matched an alleged "fake" bomb report submitted by Senior Superintendent Alex Lineses, officer-in-charge of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), during a separate hearing by the National Police Commission (Napolcom) on the gruesome killings. Lawyer Owen de Luna, legal counsel for some of the policemen administratively charged for the massacre, had told the Napolcom that the report was used to justify the deployment of members of the 1508th Regional Mobile Group and the setting up of a checkpoint at Sitio Malatin. The report stated that the local police, through a text message, were alerted about a sack of explosives found on the national highway at Sitio Malatin, which had resulted to heavy traffic in the area. Suspects Diongon and 195 other individuals, including six members of the powerful Ampatuan clan, are facing 57 charges of murder for the crime. Most of the suspects remain at large but more than 70 had already been arrested with 15 of them under trial. In his testimony on Wednesday, Diongon claimed that Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., in a November 19, 2009 meeting in the clan's residence in Maguindanao, instructed him and three other police officials to set up checkpoint on the national highway to block the Mangudadatu convoy. Diongon claimed to have seen how Andal Jr., on the morning of November 23, beat up some of the 57 victims by hitting them with his long firearm. He even fired a warning shot at a woman, whom he later identified as Mangudadatu's wife Bai Genalin Mangudadatu. The victims' remains were later found on a hilly portion of neighboring Sitio Masalay, also in Barangay Salman, some of them already buried on the ground. A backhoe, found on the crime scene and had the markings that indicated it belonged to the provincial government, was said to have been used to bury the victims and crush their vehicles. - KBK, GMANews.TV