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Witness: Militiamen set out to ambush Mangudadatu convoy


A prosecution witness in the Nov. 2009 Maguindanao massacre faced the court on Thursday and his testimony gave weight to the accusation that the ambush on the victims’ convoy was preplanned by the perpetrators. According to Elo Sisay, he personally heard from one of the militiamen who massed up near the crime site at Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town on Nov. 23, 2009 that they were there to ambush somebody. Sisay was a member of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) that was manning a military detachment not too far away from the site where 57 people, majority of them journalists, were shot dead by men allegedly identified with the powerful Ampatuan family. Some of the victims were relatives and supporters of Maguindanao Governor Esmael “Toto" Mangudadatu. "I heard somebody... I think it was the one operating the sanguku (armed vehicle) who said they will ambush somebody... The convoy of the Mangudadatu," Sisay told the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 during Thursday’s hearing in Taguig City. Sisay said he saw a big number of armed men aboard armed vehicles massed near his outpost at the border of Matagabon and Salman villages on November 22, 2009. The following morning, he said the number grew to about 300. Sisay said he had no idea what the armed group was there for until one of them aboard an armored van announced their intention. When the ill-fated convoy finally approached the part of the highway being manned by the militiamen, Sisay claimed seeing the armed men take their positions. “In front of the detachment, I heard someone shout: Magtago kayo... Dahil nandiyan na ang convoy ng mga Mangudadatu," Sisay said. As the convoy was passing by, one of the men inside one of the vans made a thumbs up sign, Sisay said. “The man said, Okay na. Nakuha na." Sisay said soon after the vehicles carrying the militiamen left, he heard a volley of gunfire that lasted for about 30 minutes. He said the sound did not bother him because gunfire are common in Maguindanao. “Parang wala lang sa amin iyon kasi lagi naman may putukan dun," he said. Asked if he could identify any of the armed men at the court room, Sisay stood up from the witness stand and pointed to an accused clad in yellow prison shirt. The man identified himself as Misuari Ampatuan. Misuari had been repeatedly identified in court by several other witnesses in the past as being among the armed men that flagged down the ill-fated convoy. During Thursday's hearing, another witness Mohammad Palawan, Mangudadatu’s uncle, took the stand as a witness in the civil aspect of the murder case. In his testimony, Palawan said he shelled out a total of P256,500 for the retrieval, funeral services, among other expenses in connection with the slaying of his wife, Rahima. Rahima, who belonged to the electoral convoy, was among several massacre victims being suspected to have been abused due to the presence of seminal fluid in their genital parts found during autopsy. - KBK, GMA News

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