MANILA, Philippines - Former Defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. and a Malacañang official had tried to dissuade Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu from running for governor against Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. three months before the cold-blooded murder of his wife, two sisters and 54 others on Nov. 23 last year.
Testifying at Ampatuan Jr.’s bail hearing yesterday, Mangudadatu said former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. asked him to declare that he was no longer running for governor of Maguindanao during a meeting in Malacañang on July 20 last year.
On direct questioning by State Prosecutor Leo Dacera, Mangudadatu said the meeting, also attended by Teodoro and Ampatuan clan members, was called by presidential adviser for political affairs Gabriel Claudio.
Mangudadatu told the court he refused to give in and insisted that he is bent on running against Ampatuan Jr.
Mangudadatu said Claudio invited him to dinner in Malacañang with members of the Ampatuan clan on Aug. 11, 2009, where he was again asked to declare before the elder Ampatuan that he was no longer seeking the governorship of Maguindanao.
“Hindi na ako nagsalita, sabi ko, ang mga tao ang naguudyok sa akin,†he said. (I kept silent, except to say that the people were egging me to run).
Mangudadatu said Teodoro called him up on Oct. 20, 2009 and asked if they could meet.
He told Teodoro he could meet him somewhere in Malate, Manila, he added.
Teodoro arranged that they meet at the Café Adriatico in Malate at around 11 p.m. he said.
Mangudadatu said during that meeting, which was witnessed by his brother, Freddie Mangudadatu, Teodoro again asked him if he was really running for governor of Maguindanao.
When he answered yes, Teodoro told him the Ampatuans have the tendency to be violent, he added.
Mangudadatu said Teodoro again tried to dissuade him from running against Ampatuan Jr.
“Mahal kita Toto,†he quoted Teodoro as saying. (I’m just concerned about your safety because your rivals have a violent streak).
“May pagka bayolente ang mga taong yan.â€ÂÂ
Mangudadatu said after his meeting with Teodoro, he was called to a meeting with former lawmaker Prospero Pichay in his Quezon City office.
Pichay also tried to dissuade him from running, and cautioned him to be very careful, he added.
Mangudadatu told the court that before the middle of 2008, he was close to the Ampatuan clan.
His relations with the Ampatuans became strained only after it was reported that he was seeking the gubernatorial post in Maguindanao, he added.
Witness: Ampatuan Sr. backed ambush
During the hearing, a witness told the court Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and his father, Ampatuan Sr. backed the plan to ambush the convoy of their political rivals.
Mohamad Sangki, 53, a member of the Sangguniang Bayan of Datu Abdullah Sangki town, said Noradin Datumanong Ampatuan, alias Nords, Maguindanao provincial administrator and close confidante of the Ampatunas, told him about the information linking the Ampatuans to the massacre.
“We were in Manila PICC for the party convention with matanda and RG…lahat po sila ay suportado sa plano ng matanda,†he quoted Noradin as saying on Nov. 20 last year.
When State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon asked Sangki to identify “matanda†(old man) and RG (regional governor) during direct examination, he said the old man was Ampatuan Sr. and RG was Zaldy Ampatuan.
However, Sigfrid Fortun, Ampatuan’s lawyer tried to discredit Sangki during cross-examination.
Sangki had been indicted for the killing of Hamsa Kamal, Montika Ampatuan, Lawain Ampatuan, and Saminda Sangki, Fortun said.
Sangki was the fifth prosecution witness during the bail hearing yesterday in Camp Crame before Quezon City Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of Regional Trial Court Branch 221.
Sangki said Ampatuan, Maguindanao Mayor Datu Bahnarin Ampatuan called him up on his mobile phone last Nov. 19 to tell him that “Uncle Say relayed to him the old man’s wish to deploy auxiliary police in Maguindanao.â€ÂÂ
The instruction was to deploy 30 police auxiliary from each of the 33 municipalities, he added.
He could not confirm the deployment since his mayor was out-of-town at the time, Sangki said.
The fourth prosecution witness was Jeofrey Freddie Lizada, Smart Telecoms legal assistant, who presented a copy of a billing statement of Genalyn Mangudadatu, wife of Toto Mangudadatu, one of the murder victims.
However, Fortun did not cross-examine Lizada, whom he considered as a messenger who could not authenticate the billing statement.
More arms found in Ampatuan ranch
BULUAN, Maguindanao – Authorities seized yesterday more high-powered firearms from a ranch owned by a brother of former Maguindanao governor Ampatuan Sr.
Chief Superintendent Felicisimo Khu Jr., JTF 12/Alpha commander, said the ranch in Barangay Labo-Labo 2 in Shariff Aguak town, Maguindanao belongs to Sarip Ampatuan, younger brother of Ampatuan Sr.
Five people believed to be Ampatuan loyalists were taken to Cotabato City Police Office for questioning, he added.
Police and the troops raided the Ampatuan ranch on the strength of a search warrant issued by the Kidapawan City Regional Trial Court Branch 17.
Seized were five M16 rifles, four M14 rifles, and ammunition.
Invited for questioning were Sekak Sulang, Salvador Domingo, Datu Manot Usman, Allan Langalan and Anas Badsalan, who were all reportedly tenants of the Ampatuan ranch.
The seized firearms were taken to the SOCCSKSARGEN Region police crime laboratory for ballistic examination.
Militiamen move out of Maguindanao
SHARIFF AGUAK – Some 400 militiamen in Maguindanao have moved their families to Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces after dozens of their comrades were implicated in the Maguindanao massacre.
“They were so afraid of being lumped with the militiamen implicated in the massacre,†said a ranking government health worker who asked not to be named.
“They started leaving Maguindanao when authorities started carrying out arrests of the militiamen involved in the massacre.â€ÂÂ
A public school principal, who is related to the Ampatuans, said only about a hundred of the militiamen and members of the civilian volunteers’ organization employed by the Ampatuans were involved in the carnage.
“Those who are innocent are now virtual refugees in some towns in Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat,†the school official said.
“They are jobless and their families are hungry. Their children have stopped schooling. They are totally displaced.â€ÂÂ
A barangay official said many former members of the Ampatuans’ private army were also forced to relocate to “neutral ground†for fear of retaliation from rebel commanders and known enemies of the former Maguindanao governor.
“There is that long-time Moro culture of rido (clan war) where people identified with one enemy group can be subjected to retaliations by the other,†the source said.
Maguindanao acting police commander Superintendent Alex Lineses said recent attacks by gunmen on isolated barangays and surrounding towns were perpetrated by groups hostile to followers of the Ampatuan clan.
Members of the deactivated CVOs and private militias that were involved in the massacre have nothing to fear, he added.
The military will not persecute them just because they were employed by the Ampatuans, according to Lt. Col. Benjamin Hao, Army 6th Infantry Division spokesman.
Eid Kabalu, Moro Islamic Liberation Front spokesman, said their forces have not initiated any tactical maneuver against former members of the Ampatuan militias.
The MILF representatives to the joint ceasefire committee and their government counterparts have started working on the return of residents displaced by the recent security problems in Shariff Aguak, he added.
Families remain in evacuation centers
Hundreds of families remain in evacuation centers, as a “climate of fear†hovers in Ampatuan town where 57 people were killed in cold blood more than two months ago.
Evacuees are scared and unable to return to their homes, especially since a majority of them were eyewitnesses to the massacre, according to the National Interfaith Mission for Peace and Justice in Maguindanao, a fact-finding mission sent by Kalinaw Mindanao, an alliance of human rights, lawyers, and Moro and church-based organizations.
Around 500 families living near the massacre site in Barangay Salman are forced to live in deplorable conditions in evacuation centers due to the presence of private armies and government troops in the area, according to the findings.
“These evacuees are the hidden victims of human rights violations caused by the warlordism of the Ampatuans and heavy militarization in the province,†said Bai Ali Indayla, of Kalinaw Mindanao.
Civilians arrested during martial law have remained in detention, the alliance said, quoting acting Maguindanao police commander Lineses.
However, it is not clear whether formal charges have been filed against them, the group added.
Kalinaw Mindanao convener and Karapatan secretary- general Lovella de Castro said that the plight of the civilians, who are also victims of the Ampatuan massacre, should be addressed.
“They will not live normal and peaceful lives unless the Ampatuans are swiftly brought to justice, its private armies completely dismantled, and all police and military authorities made to answer for their complicity in the crime,†she said.
via Philstar
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Minus pogi points ka sa akin, Gibo. Tsk, tsk.
