89th Maguindanao massacre suspect nabbed

Another suspect in the Maguindanao massacre case was arrested on Wednesday, bringing the number of total arrested suspects in the high-profile case to 89 with 106 still at large, a police official said Thursday. Tumi Timba Abas alias Guiamil was arrested at about 7:30 a.m. at Barangay Awang in Datu Odin Sinsuat in Maguindanao and is now under the custody of Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), according to Chief Superintendent Benito Estipona, CIDG deputy director. Abas, who has a P300,000.00 bounty for his arrest, was nabbed by virtue of an arrest warrant issued by Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221. “[Abas] identity was confirmed by Mr. Mannie Mama Ali, a kagawad of Barangay Awang, and his eldest daughter Arlene Talidtig-Dilawanen," Estipona said. Other accused in the massacre are members of the powerful Ampatuan clan, including its patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr., a former governor of Maguindanao, and his sons Andal Jr. and Zaldy. The three are already in government custody. The victims included 32 journalists and members of the Ampatuans’ rival clan, the Mangudadatus. The victims were on a convoy on their way to Shariff Aguak on Nov. 23, 2009 to file the candidacy papers of then Buluan vice mayor Esmael “Toto" Mangudadatu when they were flagged down and subsequently killed by alleged private armies of the Ampatuans. Mangudadatu won as Maguindanao governor in the May 2010 elections. - KBK, GMA News