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Eyewitness wary of Maguindanao cops' links to Ampatuans


An eyewitness in the infamous Maguindanao massacre had apparently requested that his confessions be withheld from the provincial police because they allegedly had "close ties" with the Ampatuan clan, the family implicated in the grisly crime. This was according to SPO2 Cixon Kasan, the former officer-in-charge of the Buluan municipal police who placed on blotter the confessions made by Kenny Dalandag, the eyewitness, hours after the Nov. 23, 2009 carnage that left 57 people dead. "Sabi ni Daladag, huwag ko raw ipaalam sa ibang mga pulis ang mga sinabi niya, lalo na kay Dicay," Kasan said during the hearing while being cross examined by the defense at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City. Kasan said Dicay was Chief Inspector Zukarno Dicay, the deputy provincial police director of Maguindanao at the time of the massacre. Dicay is among the 197 suspects charged in the multiple murder case. Dalandag was allegedly among the members of the Ampatuan clan's private army who flagged down the victims and brought them to a hilly portion of Barangay Salman where they were shot to death. After witnessing the killing, Dalandag allegedly rushed to the town police in Buluan, a stronghold of the Ampatuans' rival clan — the Mangudadatus — to report the incident. Most of the people killed in the attack were members of a convoy that was tasked to register the candidacy of then gubernatorial aspirant Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu in Shariff Aguak, a known Ampatuan bailiwick. Apart from prominent members of the Ampatuan clan and their private army, local policemen in Maguindanao were also accused of participating in the massacre. Kasan recorded everything the eyewitness on the Buluan town police blotter, where the witness admitted he and principal suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr. brought the victims to the crime site. Kasan had earlier brought the police blotter in court and read out the contents pertaining to Dalandag's statements. In the blotter report, Dalandag claimed to have attended a "briefing" on November 22, 2009 at a mansion owned by the Ampatuans in Barangay Bagong in Shariff Aguak. He said this was where the attack on the convoy was planned. He said those who were at the meeting were clan patriarch Andal Sr., suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan, former Mamasapano Mayor Bahnarin Ampatuan, and Saudi Ampatuan. Asked by defense lawyers why Dalandag requested that his statements be withheld from Dicay and other police officers, Kasan said: "Ang pagkakaalam ko kasi malapit si Dicay sa mga Ampatuan [Dicay allegedly has close ties with the Ampatuans]." Instead, Kasan said he just told about Dalandag's confessions to Buluan mayor Datu Ibrahim Mangudadatu, Toto's brother. Killed in the massacre were Toto's wife and two sisters. The prosecution considers Dalandag as a key witness in the two-year-old massacre trial and has long been pushing for his taking the witness stand. Dalandag, however, could not do so yet, pending the resolution of a petition for certiorari filed by the defense before the Supreme Court 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. Cross examination of Kasan was pushed back for a full week after defense lawyers requested more time to photocopy and review the contents of the police blotter that Kasan submitted to the court. Hearing the high-profile case is Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Regional Trial Court Branch 221 in Quezon City. — KBK, GMA News

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