Ismael “Toto" Mangudadatu, Vice Mayor of Buluan, Maguidanao whose wife Genalyn was slain in Monday's massacre in Ampatuan town, came face to face for the first time with the alleged mastermind of the crime, Andal Ampatuan Jr.
At the General Santos City airport Thursday afternoon, Mangudadatu angrily pointed a finger at Ampatuan, according to a witness, Olive Sadaria, compelling others around them to restrain Mangudadatu.
Ampatuan was in government custody but without handcuffs, after he surrendered to Presidential Adviser Jesus Dureza in Shariff Aguak on Thursday morning.
After burying his wife Thursday morning, Mangudadatu traveled to General Santos City to file a complaint of multiple murder, robbery, and theft against Ampatuan with justice department officials who were preparing for inquest proceedings against Ampatuan, mayor of Datu Unsay municipality in Maguindanao. Ampatuan was accompanied by his lawyer, Philip Sigfrid Fortun. Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera and Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño performed the inquest on Ampatuan in the VIP lounge. Devanadera is expected to hold a press conference after the inquest.
Devanadera was quoted by GMA News as saying that the Department of Justice will release a resolution on the charges against Ampatuan. Other media agencies have prematurely reported that murder charges have already been filed.
Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code, any person found guilty of murder “shall be punished by reclusion temporal in its maximum period to death." The death penalty, however, was scrapped by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2006 through Republic Act 9346 or “An Act Prohibiting the Imposition of Death Penalty in the Philippines."
Ampatuan is expected to be flown to Manila on Thursday afternoon following the inquest.
The Department of Justice has likewise created a special prosecuting panel to handle the massacre case.
The 14-member team is composed of two groups: seven prosecutors from Manila who will handle the inquest and the preliminary investigation and seven prosecutors from Mindanao provinces who would handle all cases filed related to the killings
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Sana naman umusad ang kaso, baka mamaya bigla nanaman magdiminish ito. .
