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Maguindanao massacre suspects’ ‘driver’ takes witness stand


A former member of the Ampatuan clan's private army on Thursday admitted before the court hearing the Maguindanao massacre case that he brought the gunmen to the scene of the carnage on the morning of Nov. 23, 2009. Esmael Amil, the latest witness to be presented by the prosecution during trial in Taguig City, told the court that his "boss" — a certain "Alijol" — instructed him to fetch the armed men from the house of Datu Kanor Ampatuan in Shariff Aguak and bring them to Sitio Malating at Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town at about 6 a.m. Amil said he started working with the Ampatuans, the clan implicated in the massacre, in March 2009. He said he was promised P1,500 and a sack of rice if he joined the clan's private army. He said he was no longer part of the group when the massacre happened. During his testimony on Thursday, Amil said he used an Ampatuan vehicle, which he called a "weapon" and described as "color black with four wheels and can carry 20 people," to transport the armed men in two batches — 20 in the first batch and 16 in the second. He said all men were armed with M14 and Armalite rifles and wearing camouflage uniforms. "Alijon radioed me to go to Datu Kanor's house and bring a number of men to Sitio Malating," said Amil in Maguindanaoan dialect, which was translated by a court interpreter first in Filipino then in English. Amil said a friend of his, whom he identified as Haikel Mangako, accompanied him during the trip to Sitio Malating. The witness said he dropped of the 36 armed men along a highway in Sitio Malating — the area where a group of local policemen were also said to have set up checkpoints to block the convoy carrying the 57 victims. Most of the victims belonged to an electoral convoy of then gubernatorial aspirant Esmael Mangudadatu, a rival clan of the Ampatuan family. Mangudadatu's wife and two sisters were among those killed in the massacre, now considered the worst election-related violence in the Philippines. He won Maguindanao governor in the May 2010 elections. Also killed in the massacre were the 32 journalists who were then covering the filing of Mangudadatu's candidacy papers. Based on earlier witness accounts, the victims were initially flagged down at Sitio Malating, brought to a hilly portion of Sitio Masalay at Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town where they were shot dead. Asked if he could recognize anyone inside the gallery as among the armed men he brought to the crime scene, Amil stood up from the witness stand and pointed to four of the 55 suspects clad in yellow prison shirts. The four identified themselves in court as Tato Tampugao, Misuari Ampatuan, Nicodemo Amad Tolentino, and Mohades Ampatuan. They were all seated near or beside fellow suspects and prominent Ampatuan clan members Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his son Sajid Ampatuan. Asked later by reporters, assistant Regional State Prosecutor Peter Medalle said the four were reportedly "trusted men" of the Ampatuan clan. Amil said after completing his task of transporting the men, he proceeded to his residence at Barangay Labu-Labu in Shariff Aguak. The witness claimed to have heard shots shortly after arriving at their house. Handcuffs At the start of Thursday's hearing, defense lawyer Sigfrid Fortun, who represents Andal Sr. and son Andal Ampatuan Jr., asked the court to allow the handcuffs to be taken off the accused individuals for "humanitarian purposes." Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Regional Trial Court Branch 221, who hears the high-profile murder case, consulted with Chief Inspector Edgar Camus, warden of the Quezon City Jail Annex inside Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, where the massacre suspects are detained. "I cannot allow it because I won't be able to maintain order and security if the handcuffs are removed. Our security personnel here are not ample enough," Camus explained. - KBK, GMA News

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