Authorities silent on who would be arrested

The Philippine Army on Thursday sent hundreds of extra troops to contain a powerful Muslim clan whose members have been indicted for the political massacre of 57 people. The extra battalion of 400 soldiers brings to more than 3,000 the number now guarding the home of the Ampatuan clan and government offices in Maguindanao province in southern Mindanao, said the military’s spokesman, Col. Romeo Brawner.

“Our forces are now stationed in the area. They are restricting their movement within the compound [home],” he told Agence France-Presse.

Supporters of the clan, which has ruled strife-torn Maguindanao for a decade and has its own private army, were being barred from entering the home in the provincial capital of Shariff Aguak, Brawner said.

The move, he added, was also meant to support the national police if arrest warrants are issued for several clan members who could be charged with murder, including the patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr., the governor of Maguindanao.

Brawner did not say who among the members of the Ampatuan clan would be issued the arrest warrants.
According to him, security forces are also deployed in Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato City, which along with Maguindanao were placed under a state of emergency by the government last week.

“Right now, the security is very tight in the area. We are stopping [the Ampatuans’] supporters from entering their home,” Brawner said.

The military’s spokesman added that about 10 armored personnel carriers and tanks had also been deployed to Maguindanao.

The clan patriarch’s son and namesake, Andal Ampatuan Jr, was arrested three days after the November 23 massacre and has been charged with 25 counts of murder.

Authorities said that the son, also the mayor of Datu Unsay town, will likely face more charges.

Police have also indicted Ampatuan Sr. and four other family members for their alleged role in the massacre, and are waiting for the Justice department to decide whether to charge them in court.

The savagery of the murders, which included the deliberate targeting and execution of at least 30 journalists, has shocked predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines as well as the international community.

Police alleged that Ampatuan Jr. and 100 of his gunmen shot dead the occupants of a convoy that included relatives of his rival for the post of Maguindanao governor in the 2010 elections, as well as the group of journalists.

The rival, Ismael Mangudadatu, said that the killings were carried out to stop him from running for office.
Ampatuan Sr. and Ampatuan Jr. were members of President Gloria Arroyo’s ruling coalition until being expelled last week because of the killings.

Witness in Manila

A witness to the massacre, who is now under the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also on Thursday said that he was present when the carnage took place.

His statement was confirmed by NBI Birector Nestor Mantaring, who said that witness and his family were brought to Manila from Maguindanao Wednesday evening.

“He [one of three witnesses under NBI custody] said that he was there,” Mantaring added.

He said that they were still weighing whether they would place the witness under the Witness Protection Program.

The NBI chief disclosed that the bureau was monitoring hotels and motels in Metro Manila on reports that some individuals from Mindanao have checked in there.

Three members of the Ampatuan clan and seven others were ordered to be placed under the Bureau of Immigration’s watchlist by the Department of Justice also on Thursday.

Acting Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera identified them as Datu Ulo Ampatuan, Police Auxillary of Shariff Aguak Tony Kenis Ampatuan, Vice Mayor of Salibo, Maguindanao Datu Kanor Ampatuan, Esmail Canapia, Takipan Dilun, Datu Abdullah Sangki, Muhammad Sangki, Tammy Masukat, Tumi Timba Abas and policeman Abbey Guiadem.

She earlier placed under the watchlist Ampatuan Sr., Ampatuan Jr., Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Nords Ampatuan, Akmad Ampatuan Sr., Akmad Ampatuan Jr., Saudi Ampatuan Jr., Bahnarian Ampatuan and Sajid Islam Ampatuan.

Devanadera said that the complaint filed by the police on Wednesday will be evaluated by a panel of investigators from the department before a subpoena is issued.

Canapia and Dilun will undergo preliminary investigation for illegal possession of firearms after e authorities confiscated M-16 rifles from them.

Ballistic tests

Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon said that ballistic tests showed that the confiscated firearms matched those used in the massacre.

The two suspects have until December 14 to submit their counteraffidavit.

At the Supreme Court, a petition for a temporary restraining order filed by the Ampatuan family over the arrest of Ampatuan Jr. was still being evaluated as of Thursday.

Supreme Court spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said that the High Tribunal was not treating the petition as a priority.

Devanadera said that the Ampatuans have also filed a petition for bail, despite the murder charges slapped on Ampatuan Jr. being considered as non-bailable.

Maguindanao is part of Mindanao island, where an insurgency by Muslim rebels fighting for an independent homeland has claimed more than 150,000 lives since the late 1970s, according to military estimates.

President Arroyo’s government has used Muslim clans such as the Ampatuans to rule these areas, and allowed them to build up their own armies as part of a containment strategy against the insurgents.

But critics of the strategy have said this has created warlords who act outside the law, with the massacre just the most dramatic example.

Brawner said that the extra military presence was needed to prevent further explosions of violence, including possible revenge attacks from the Mangudadatu clan, which is also known to have armed supporters.

In Manila, Chief Supt. Arturo Cacdac, the head of the national crime laboratory, said that investigators have autopsied 37 massacre victims, six of them women.

He added that the majority of the victims were shot with M-16 automatic rifles or shotguns.

There was also indication that some of the women in the group were sexually assaulted, although no conclusive evidence of this has been gathered, according to Cacdac.

The military’s Metro Manila Command was monitoring the situation Maguindanao to prevent any possible spillover of the violence from the Maguindanao incident.

Maj. Gen. Reynaldo Mapagu, the chief of the National Capital Region Command (Metro Manila), also on Thursday said that they were closely working with various intelligence units in the region to avert that possibility.

Mapagu appealed to the public to remain calm but at the same time vigilant on what is going on around them and immediately report to authorities any unusual activities in their area.
AFP WITH REPORTS FROM RUBEN D. MANAHAN 4th, JEFFERSON ANTIPORDA AND SAMMY MARTIN