93rd Ampatuan massacre suspect nabbed in Sultan Kudarat

A former police officer allegedly involved in the November 2009 Ampatuan massacre was arrested over the weekend in Sultan Kudarat, the police said on Monday. Former PO1 Ahmad Badal was arrested in Isulan town last Saturday at 9:45 a.m., Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) head Chief Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao, Jr. said in a report. Badal’s arrest brings the number of total arrested suspects in the massacre to 93, with 102 suspects still at large. The ex-cop was arrested by virtue of a warrant issued by Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court for 56 counts of murder. Reyes is currently presiding over the trial of individuals accused of killing of 57 people in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao on Nov. 23, 2009, a crime that sent shock waves around the world. The 57 victims included 32 journalists who were part of the convoy that was on its way to file the certificate of candidacy of Esmael Mangudadatu, who was elected governor in the May 2010 elections. Among those accused are members of the powerful Ampatuan clan who are Mangudadatu's political rivals. The accused persons include the Ampatuan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr., a former Maguindanao governor; his sons Andal Jr., former Datu Unsay town mayor; Sajid, former officer-in-charge of the province; and Zaldy, suspended governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). - VVP, GMA News