MANGUDADATUS VOW NO RETALIATION VS
AMPATUANS
[PHOTO
AT LEFT - Andal Ampatuan Jr. holds his detainee number in his cell at the NBI.
Inset shows Esmael Mangudadatu holding his COC for governor, which he filed
yesterday. JONJON VICENCIO/AP | MANILA,
Philippines]
MANILA, NOVEMBER 29, 2009 (STAR) By John Unson - The Mangudadatus have given assurance that they will not carry out a rido (vendetta) against members of the Ampatuan clan who were implicated in the massacre of 57 peole, including several members of the Mangudadatu family on Nov. 23.
Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu said yesterday they only want the suspects in the massacre of their relatives prosecuted.
“We will not retaliate with force. We shall only fight them the legal way, through the court, through a legal battle, as prescribed by law,” he said.
Mangudadatu, who is going to run for governor of Maguindanao, lost his wife Genalyn and two sisters in the massacre.
The Mangudadatus own vast tracts of land in their hometown Buluan, and also wield political power over the newly created Pandag and Mangudadatu towns.
They are related to the equally influential Paglas, Mangelen and Pendatun clans in the area.
Mangudadatu said Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. and his father, Maguindanao Gov. Andal Sr., are strongly opposed to his desire to contest the gubernatorial seat of the province, which has 36 towns.
Mangudadatu nearly lost control when he saw prime suspect Ampatuan Jr. during the inquest at General Santos City last Thursday and attempted to punch the mayor, but was held back by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation and his younger brother Freddie, mayor of Mangudadatu town.
“I want to smash his face, beat him to a pulp, but cooler heads prevailed and it was then I realized I am a Muslim and that as a Muslim I need to face this ordeal with utmost patience, humility, perseverance and sobriety. Muslims are sober, not hot-headed,” Mangudadatu, who assumed leadership of their clan after the demise of his father Datu Pua in 2002, said.
He said he and members of his family will not persecute members of the Ampatuan clan not implicated in the massacre.
Mangudadatu said they will show to their constituents that ethnic Maguindanaons can still rise from the culture of clan wars and vendetta killings.
A member of the family, Energy assistant secretary Hadji Zamzamin Ampatuan, said many of their relatives are now apprehensive over the safety of their children studying in the cities of Koronadal, Davao and General Santos.
The DOE official said he has advised his relatives not to let their children drop out from school since the Mangudadatus have assured them that they would not retaliate.
Mangudadatu files COC
Five days after 16 of his immediate family members and 41 others were brutally killed on alleged orders of his political opponent, Mangudadatu personally filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) for governor of Maguindanao.
Former defense chief and Lakas-Kampi-CMD standard-bearer Gilbert Teodoro accompanied the Buluan vice mayor to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office at Shariff Aguak at 11:30 a.m.
Teodoro fetched Mangudadatu at his residence in Buluan and traveled to Shariff Aguak, passing in front of the Ampatuan mansion.
“Only death can stop me from running,” Mangudadatu, escorted by soldiers, a police commander and a senior army general, said.
His caravan of more than 50 vehicles took the same road where his wife, two sisters, supporters and journalists were stopped and killed Monday.
Along the highway, groups of people waved at the cars and raised their thumbs and clenched their fists in approval.
But inside Shariff Aguak, the stronghold of the rival Ampatuan clan, the mood was somber. There were no enthusiastic crowds and only few pedestrians.
“This symbolizes our freedom. I hope this will be the start of our liberation,” said Mangudadatu, wearing a red-striped t-shirt and jeans. Minutes later, he proudly raised his COC in front of reporters and followers.
Scores of supporters and political colleagues in Central Mindanao, led by South Cotabato Rep. Arthur Pingol, also disregarded threats to their lives to show support for and express their sympathy to Mangudadatu.
Sarangani Gov. Rene Miguel Dominguez, also a Lakas stalwart, said Teodoro’s act of personally escorting Mangudadatu showed the latter’s commitment to peaceful and honest elections in Maguindanao.
Teodoro also personally attested to the vice mayor’s filing of his COC.
“This is not about party lines or affiliations anymore. Secretary Teodoro has expressed his commitment to Vice Mayor Mangudadatu that he would extend all possible help or assistance to ensure that justice would be served,” Dominguez said.
He said that at the moment, Mangudadatu has remained a member of the ruling party in good standing and has made no gesture of defecting to another political party.
“I cannot asked him (Mangudadatu) if he plans to shift parties as he is still in that period of grieving. But regardless of whether he will transfer to the Liberal Party or to any other political group, we at Lakas are committed in helping him and his family, and those of his slain supporters, get justice,” Dominguez stressed.
Mangudadatu urged to push through
Meanwhile, the wife of one of the slain journalists killed in the massacre called on Mangudadatu to continue the gubernatorial fight against any member of the powerful Ampatuan clan.
“He should not be afraid now because he has the support of all the people,” Noemi Parcon, wife of Joel Parcon, former dzRH reporter and publisher of Frontiera weekly newspaper, said.
Parcon was among the journalists killed on Monday.
Mrs. Parcon viewed the Maguindanao massacre as “God’s way” to end the Ampatuans’ reign in Maguindanao.
“The sad part, however, is that a lot of people have sacrificed their lives and one of them is my husband,” she said.
Mrs. Parcon expressed hope that Mangudadatu would be a “good governor” once he wins in 2010.
Another journalist who was brutally killed was reportedly encouraged by some politicians to run for city councilor or board member in South Cotabato’s second district in the upcoming 2010 elections.
“Some politicians were encouraging me to run for city councilor in this city. Others convinced me to run for board member of the province,” Ernesto Maravilla, chief of reporters of Bombo Radyo Koronadal, had said.
Popularly known in the province as “Bombo Bart,” Maravilla had said that most of the politicians offered to shoulder all the expenses if he decided to run but he declined. – With Jaime Laude, Ramil Bajo, AP
Backhoe dispatched weeks before attack By Cecille Suerte Felipe (The Philippine Star) Updated November 28, 2009 12:00 AM
[PHOTO
AT LEFT - Flowers are offered at the wake for seven journalists in General
Santos City yesterday. At least 22 journalists were among 57 people massacred in
an apparent bid to stop a local politician from running for governor last Monday
in Maguindanao. ROSE TAMAYO-TESORO |
MANILA, Philippines - The provincial engineer dispatched the excavating equipment used to dig the graves of the victims of the Maguindanao massacre three weeks before the gruesome murder, a police officer said.
Senior Superintendent Ericson Velasquez of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group said the backhoe was dispatched to Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao from Nov. 4 to 20 for a project under the driver Hanid Delayunid.
Velasquez said the investigators got the information from provincial engineer Landap Gunaid, the officer who dispatched the heavy equipment.
“We are now verifying if indeed there was a project and why the backhoe was not taken back to the provincial capitol after the project,” he added.
Gunaid told the investigators that Delayunid did not return the machine and is now missing.
“Of course he (Delayunid) will be considered as suspect because he has direct participation on the release of the backhoe. Although we are not making conclusion that he was the one who dug the graves (and) he was just the assigned operator of the backhoe, but as of this moment we will presume that he is the operator during that time,” Velasquez said. “He has a lot to explain.”
He also noted that the four police officers under restrictive custody have yet to issue formal statements in connection with the massacre and they are not yet considered suspects.
He added that the police officers’ formal statement will be compared with the evidence gathered at the crime scene and by other investigating units.
“If there is probable cause, then we will indict them as part of or respondents of this case… we will refer the records of our investigation to the investigating panel of prosecutors created by the Department of Justice,” Velasquez clarified.
Officers sacked
Military commanders in Maguindanao, meanwhile, have been relieved from their posts to pave the way for an investigation on the possible lapses they had committed as commanders.
“Their relief was ordered by the Army leadership to give way to an impartial investigation that would be conducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines inspector general,” AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner said.
Brawner said 6th Infantry Division chief Maj. Gen. Alfredo Cayton and 601st Infantry Brigade chief Col. Medardo Geslani have been relieved from their respective posts and would be replaced by their deputies on an acting capacity until their successors are appointed.
Brawner said the relief of Cayton and Geslani came a few days after the massacre because they could not change commanders in the middle of a pursuit operation against the perpetrators.
The spokesman said the two commanders were also relieved over complaints that they did not provide security to the group, which included relatives and supporters of Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu.
“The military justice system will apply to them. Actually, the two commanders welcome the investigation because it would give them the opportunity to air their side,” Brawner said.
But he clarified that there is a possibility that the two could be assigned back to their posts if they would be cleared in the investigation.
Earlier, Brawner said the military does not see any reason for relieving Cayton and Geslani over the incident, saying the two commanders acted immediately upon learning about the incident.
But he said the army leadership ordered their relief after several complaints surfaced against the two commanders.
He said the AFP also relieved four soldiers who were previously assigned at the Maguindanao provincial government, also for investigation.
As of yesterday, additional forces from the 4th Scout Ranger Company and the 6th Special Forces Company were sent to augment the troops deployed in the area since Thursday to help secure the area.
On Thursday, Lakas-Kampi-CMD presidential standard-bearer Gilbert Teodoro Jr. called for the immediate pull out of top ranking military officials in the region, saying the relief is necessary to ensure a transparent and impartial investigation.
He pointed out that while the PNP had promptly sacked its officers and men in the area following the mass killing, the AFP has not made any move in that direction.
Teodoro said the immediate relief of the military officials there will send a strong signal that the government is sincere in its efforts to solve the case.
Teodoro secures witnesses
In the meantime, four more new witnesses in the carnage are now in the hands of law enforcement authorities.
It was learned that the four only volunteered to come forward after they were assured of their safety and that of their respective families.
Maguindanao-based contacts said that all four were present when the mass killings took place last Monday morning.
According to the source, Teodoro played a key role in convincing the four to testify against the perpetrators and the brains behind the crime.
The source said Teodoro personally oversees the security arrangements of the witnesses and their respective families.
The source said the four have verbally confirmed the confession of a certain “Boy” that the mass killings were carried out on orders of Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr.
Teodoro also urged more witnesses to come forward as he offered his legal services to those who are willing to testify and pin down the brains behind the mass slaughter.
“With more witnesses coming out in the open, the more government will be able to create a very strong case against the suspects and convict them in court for their crimes and thus, give justice to the victims’ families,” he said.
Teodoro said the arrest and detention of Ampatuan Jr. did not solve last Monday’s gruesome murders.
“There are still scores of masterminds and perpetrators hiding in the woods and secluded areas of the region. We should not let them go scot-free,” he said. -- Jaime Laude, Jerry Botial, James Mananghaya