Eyewitness account on Maguindanao massacre enters court record

The prosecution on Thursday succeeded in putting on court record an alleged first-hand account of a witness in the Maguindanao massacre despite the defense’s past attempts to prevent this. During the continuation of the high-profile massacre trial in Taguig City, the prosecution presented a blotter entry from Kenny Dalandag where he recounted details on how 57 people, including 32 journalists, were killed on Nov. 23, 2009 in Ampatuan town. Dalandag's account was read in court by SPO2 Cixon Kasan, the police officer who placed Dalandag's statements on the blotter. At the time of the massacre, Fasan was officer-in-charge of the Buluan town police. According to the prosecution, Dalandag — considered as a key witness in the crime — chose to have his statements placed on blotter at the Buluan police, and not in Ampatuan town where the massacre happened, because the latter is a known stronghold of the Ampatuan clan, the powerful family implicated in the carnage. Prominent members of the Ampatuan clan, including patriarch Andal Sr. and his three sons, are among the close to 200 people facing 57 counts of murder for the crime. Dalandag, however, could not yet be presented in court because of a pending petition for certiorari filed before the Supreme Court by the defense seeking to prevent him from testifying. Defense lawyers had earlier asked a Manila court to block Dalandag's testimony but the request was denied, prompting them to elevate the matter to the high court. According to Kasan, Dalandag dropped by their police station at about 2 a.m. of Nov. 24, 2009 to tell authorities about the massacre. "On November 24, a certain Kenny Daladag [sic] voluntarily came to this station and reported to take effect about the incidents/killing in Ampatuan municipality and recalled to us about the massacre," said Kasan, reading from the blotter entry. Kasan later explained that he wrote the witness' name on the blotter as "Daladag" and not "Dalandag" because that was "how I heard it" while the witness was giving his statement. In his account to police, Dalandag said a certain "Commander Moguera" instructed them at around 4 p.m. of November 22 to go to Barangay Bagong in Shariff Aguak "because the old man, Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr., called their attention." Dalandag said they arrived at Barangay Bagong at about 7:50 p.m. that night for a "briefing" from Andal Sr. Attending the meeting were suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Rizaldy Ampatuan, former Mamasapano Mayor Bahnarin Ampatuan, and Saudi Ampatuan. Dalandag said that hours after the meeting, around 6 a.m. on the morning of the massacre, he and about 100 more of Commander Moguera's men were fetched by police cars and armed vehicles to be brought to Barangay Matagabon in Ampatuan town. They arrived at their destination at around 9:30 a.m. Still reading from the blotter, Kasan said: "They flag[ged] down convoy vehicles where they identified the persons inside that vehicles were Genalin Mangudadatu and her companions. Personally, Unsay Ampatuan Jr. and his companions including myself brought all the victims/passengers of the convoy vehicles in the area where they were brutally killed." Principal suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr., earlier identified by other eyewitnesses as the one who led the armed men in shooting the victims, is called by local residents as "Datu Unsay," the name of the town of which he was a mayor. Defense lawyer Abdulkalim Askali raised an objection against Kasan's testimony, saying the police officer should not be allowed to simply read out a blotter entry because it could "clog the court docket with hearsay." The defense lawyers likewise requested that they be allowed to photocopy the three-inch thick police blotter so they could "peruse" the contents in preparation for their cross examination of Kasan. The prosecution manifested that there was no need to have the entire blotter photocopied because there was only one page in question. However, lawyer Sigfrid Fortun, legal counsel for Andal Sr. and Andal Jr., cited Section 17, Rule 132 of the Rules of Court which allows the defense to do so. Asked about the significance of Kasan's testimony, a member of the prosecution who spoke on conditions of anonymity said their panel was at least able to placed Dalandag's testimony on record. "At least ngayon, nasa court records na iyan," the prosecution member said. — KBK, GMA News