Maguindanao massacre witness claims he 'overheard' plans to ambush convoy

In testimony given Thursday before the Quezon City court handling the Maguindanao massacre case in Taguig City, prosecution witness Elo Sisay, a civilian militiamember, said he saw a large number of armed men aboard vehicles mass near his outpost at the border of Matagabon and Salman villages on November 22, 2009. According to Sisay, it was clear what they were ordered to do: Ambush the electoral convoy sent by then gubernatorial bet Esmael Mangudadatu. Elo Sisay, a member of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit who happened to be manning a military detachment not too far from the massacre site at Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town on November 22, 2009. The following day - just hours before the carnage - Sisay said the number of armed militiamen 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 revealed their purpose. "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 claimed to have overheard while inside the military outpost. 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." As the convoy was passing by, Sisay said he saw one of the men inside one of the vans make a thumbs up sign. "The man said, Okay na. Nakuha na." Sisay said soon after the vehicles had left, he heard gunfire that lasted a good 30 minutes. The witness, however, admitted he brushed off the gunfire because "parang wala lang sa amin iyon kasi lagi naman may putukan dun." Asked if he could identify any of the armed men who was present at the court room, Sisay stood up from the stand and pointed to an accused clad in yellow prison shirt and who identified himself before the court as Misuari Ampatuan. Misuari Ampatuan had been repeatedly identified in court by several other witnesses in previous hearings 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 believed to have been sexually abused given the presence of seminal fluid in their genital parts found during autopsy. — ELR, GMA News