A defense lawyer in the Ampatuan murder trial on Wednesday accused a prospective state witness of making last-minute changes in his statements to support the prosecution "theory" aimed at pinning down 196 suspects in the Maguindanao massacre. Lawyer Sigfrid Fortun, counsel for multiple murder suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr, cast doubts on the motivation of Police Inspector Rex Ariel Diongon for executing five different affidavits on the November 23 carnage in Barangay Salman’s Sitio Masalay in Ampatuan town. Diongon, the prosecution witness, earlier testified being the leader of the 1508th Regional Mobile Group of the Maguindanao Police, who manned the checkpoint that stopped the convoy of the 57 massacre victims. Court records show that the former police official executed five different affidavits from November 2009 to January 2010, before police officials and government prosecutors in Mindanao and in Metro Manila. The sworn statements are:
- a three-page November 25, 2009 affidavit, executed before the regional police's Criminal Investigation Detection Group (CIDG) office in Cotabato City;
- a six-page November 29, 2009 affidavit executed at the Philippine National Police headquarters at Camp Crame in Quezon City;
- a December 5, 2009 affidavit that contains the names of the 15 police officers reporting to him who also manned the Sitio Malating checkpoint on that day;
- a January 12, 2010 supplemental affidavit executed at the Department of Justice (DOJ) office in Manila; and
- another supplemental affidavit executed on January 25, 2010 also also at the DOJ.
On October 27, almost nine months after he executed his last affidavit, Diongon – in his first court appearance – revealed to a Quezon City court that the first affidavit (November 25) was
"fabricated" and was allegedly prepared by another police official to cover up the crime. He said the contents of the affidavit were "half truths." Also, he said the statements in his four succeeding affidavits contained the real details on the massacre plan. He claimed he kept on making other affidavits because he thought the previous one "was lacking." But Fortun asked why the supposed crucial details of the massacre were left out in the first affidavit and only turned up in later sworn statements. Among the new details was the supposed November 19 meeting of Andal Jr with several ranking police officials in Maguindanao, including Diongon, to plan for the setting up of a checkpoint to block the Mangudadatu convoy. Diongon never mentioned the meeting in his first three affidavits and it only appeared in his January 12 supplemental statement. In his October 27 testimony, Diongon also gave details about incidents that happened in the checkpoint that were never mentioned in his earlier affidavits, including the one where Andal Jr allegedly fired a warning shot to the ground near a female member of the Mangudadatu convoy. Prior to Diongon's October 27 testimony, the prosecution's second witness, farmer
Norodin Mauyag, had already described a similar incident when the former Datu Unsay mayor fired a shot in front of a female victim while at the checkpoint. "That's the reason why you executed five affidavits and signed one twice.... You did this because you would like to make your story coincide with the prosecution's theory of the incident," Fortun said. The lawyer further alleged that Diongon added details to his October 27 testimony so that they will "dovetail with the theory of the prosecution." Diongon repeatedly denied Fortun's allegations. Fortun also pointed out why it took Diongon more than a month – from December 5 to January 12 – to execute a supplemental affidavit. He warned Diongon of possibly facing perjury charges if proven that he was not telling the truth when he executed the five affidavits.
Duty to report In cross examining Diongon, Fortun also stressed how the accused police official failed to report the plan to attack the Mangudadatu convoy despite having prior knowledge of it. In his earlier testimony, Diongon said he
answered "Yes" when Andal Jr, in a meeting at the latter's residence on November 19, asked him if he could "kill" their "friends from Buluan," referring to the Mangudadatus. "Isn't it your duty to report to your superiors any acts of criminality or any potential for such," said Fortun as he cross examined Diongon. Diongon replied: "It was the duty of my superior, who was with me at that time to report the incident." The superior Diongon was referring to was Chief Inspector Sukarno Dicay, then deputy police director of the Maguindanao police, who along with Diongon, were among the police officials commissioned by Andal Jr during the November 19 meeting to set up the Malating checkpoint to stop the Mangudadatu convoy. But Fortun stressed that Diongon's failure to thwart an alleged attack on the convoy was further aggravated when he did nothing while the victims were being "maltreated" at the checkpoint. At the checkpoint, Andal Jr and his armed men allegedly
beat up some victims by hitting them with their long firearms, according to Diongon. "You knew it was a violation of human rights, which you took training on, correct?" said Fortun, to which the witness answered in the affirmative. "You were taught disarming techniques, and you didn't use it?" Fortun added. Diongon said: "No." The hearing, held at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, is on going as of posting time. Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 is hearing the case on 57 counts of murder against 196 people.
— LBG, GMANews.TV 
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