By CARLOS H. CONDE
The New York Times
Published: January 13, 2010
MANILA — A witness to the recent massacre of 57 people in the southern Philippines testified Wednesday that the principal suspect in the case, a town mayor, shot several of the victims himself and that the mayor’s father, the patriarch of a powerful political clan once allied with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, had personally directed his son to carry out several of the killings.
The witness, Rasul Sangki, the vice mayor of the town of Ampatuan in Maguindanao Province, told the court that the suspect, Andal Ampatuan Jr., killed at least three of the victims and ordered his supporters to shoot others to make sure they were dead. One of the victims, Mr. Sangki said, was a journalist begging for his life. But the mayor, Mr. Sangki testified, shot the man with an M-16 rifle.
Mr. Ampatuan, the only person indicted in the massacre so far, pleaded not guilty earlier this month to 41 murder charges against him. In a brief interview with reporters on Wednesday — his first since he was charged — Mr. Ampatuan denied any role in the carnage.
“Allah knows that I am innocent,” he said.
Dante Jimenez, chairman of the watchdog group Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, called Mr. Sangki’s testimony “very explosive and credible.”
Mr. Sangki was the first person to testify about the massacre on Nov. 23, in which 30 reporters and media workers were killed. It was the worst known attack on journalists, according to international media groups.
The massacre occurred when a convoy was making its way to Shariff Aguak, the provincial capital of Maguindanao, to file candidacy forms for Esmael Mangudadatu, the deputy mayor of a small town called Buluan. His wife, three sisters and an aunt were in the convoy, heading to an election office to enter him as a candidate for governor in this year’s election and presenting a direct challenge to Mr. Ampatuan.
According to Mr. Sangki, Mr. Ampatuan personally directed dozens of his armed supporters to take the victims to a hilltop where they were killed and later buried. The graves were reported to have been dug with a backhoe belonging to the Maguindanao provincial government.
Mr. Sangki was the first of several witnesses prosecutors say they will produce. He said that Mr. Ampatuan had shot the journalist, whom he identified as Jimmy Cabillo, as well as Mr. Mangudadatu’s wife and one of his sisters.
“He shot the victims as soon as they were brought to him,” Mr. Sangki testified. “They were on their knees, crying and shouting for mercy.”
Mr. Sangki also said that before the victims were herded to the hilltop, he heard Mr. Ampatuan talking to his father on a two-way radio. At the time, the father, Andal Ampatuan Sr. was the governor of Maguindanao Province.
“Father, they are here,” the son said, according to Mr. Sangki, who said he heard this reply in the Maguindanao dialect: “You know what to do.”
The elder Mr. Ampatuan had been a close political ally of President Arroyo and delivered crucial votes for her in the 2004 elections. Political analysts say it was this connection that allowed the Ampatuan clan to govern Maguindanao with an iron hand while developing a large private militia to reinforce their position.
The governor was the patriarch of a political dynasty that has ruled the southwestern wedge of the island of Mindanao for much of the past decade. He named Ampatuan town after his family, and several other towns are named after his sons.
The Ampatuans were expelled from Mrs. Arroyo’s political party soon after the massacre. The president vowed to investigate the killings and last month set up a commission tasked with dismantling the private armies in the country.
The elder Mr. Ampatuan is currently in the custody of the military, while three other sons are in police custody. Only Andal Ampatuan Jr. has been formally charged, although prosecutors have said they are still investigating and preparing cases against numerous other suspects.
