Andal Jr met with father day before he surrendered - witness

Multiple murder suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr. apparently hinted to one of his police escorts his decision to surrender less than a week after he allegedly led his men in shooting dead 57 people, including women and journalists, in Maguindanao last November 23. According to PO1 Rainer Ebus, Andal Jr., a former mayor of Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao, allegedly told him that he’ll be on TV the next day while they were inside Andal Jr.'s vehicle on November 25, two days after the grisly massacre. He said they were then leaving a meeting held at the mansion of Andal Jr.’s father, Andal Sr., in Shariff Aguak. “Makikita niyo na ko sa TV bukas (You’ll see me on TV tomorrow)," Ebus quoted Andal Jr. as saying during Wednesday’s hearing on his motion to be removed from the charge sheet in connection with the massacre. The next day, November 26, Andal Jr., accompanied by then presidential adviser on Mindanao Jesus Dureza, surrendered to then Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera in General Santos City. Ebus is among the 196 people facing 57 counts of murder for the carnage. He was also suspended from the police force due to the separate administrative charges he and 60 other local Maguindanao policemen are facing before the National Police Commission. Ebus, 33, said he did not stay long inside the mansion during the November 25 meeting. He said he stayed in Andal Jr.’s vehicle where the former Datu Unsay mayor joined him later. Earlier in the day, Ebus claimed he was among the policemen who accompanied Andal Jr. and his private army to a hilly portion at Sitio Masalay at Barangay Salman, where members of a convoy of the Ampatuans’ rival clan were brought and killed. Ebus said he saw Andal Jr. shoot around 40 of the 57 members of the electoral convoy that included the wife of then gubernatorial bet Esmael “Toto" Mangudadatu, his two sisters, lawyers, supporters, and 32 journalists. He said after the killings, he and the other escorts of Andal Jr. were instructed to hide their firearms because they were issued not by the Philippine National Police but by Andal Jr. himself. But during the cross examination of Ebus, Andal Jr.’s legal counsel Sigfrid Fortun asked how Ebus knew the firearms were really owned by Andal Jr. Ebus admitted he did not see the firearms’ registration certificates but said he had seen “letter orders." Ebus also said he could not remember what the serial numbers of the firearms issued to him by Andal Jr. were. The suspended police official said aside from him, Andal Jr. has, for escorts, five policemen, five Army soldiers, and 30 members of the civilian volunteer organization (CVOs). During the hearing, Ebus also said he had stopped receiving salary as a policeman since May, after they were slapped with administrative charges. Asked if he still wanted to return to the service despite what happened, Ebus answered in the affirmative. The hearing is set to resume on November 17, six days before the first anniversary of the internationally condemned killings. - KBK, GMANews.TV