Maguindanao Army commander promoted

MANILA, Philippines - A senior military commander ordered relieved in connection with the Nov. 23 Maguindanao massacre was given a new post and is now the second in command of the 80,000-strong Philippine Army.

Maj. Gen. Alfredo Cayton assumed the post of vice Army commander on Monday, replacing Maj. Gen. Jerry Jalandoni who retired the other day.

Cayton will hold his position until Feb. 14, when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 56.

Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Public Information Office chief, described Cayton’s designation as above par because it was deliberated upon by the military’s Board of Generals (BOG).

He said that Cayton became eligible for his new post after he was cleared of the complaints against him in connection with the massacre.

Cayton was then commander of the 6th Infantry Division based at Camp Awang in Maguindanao when the mass murder happened on Nov. 23.

The area where the mass killings happened was under Cayton’s jurisdiction.

As a result, Cayton and Col. Menardo Geslani, commanding officer of the 601st Infantry Brigade, were ordered relieved from their respective posts to pave the way for an impartial military investigation for their reported failure to prevent the carnage from happening.

The two officers were subsequently ordered to report back to headquarters in Metro Manila on floating status.

The military leadership also ordered the replacement of the 601st Infantry Brigade to remove doubts that the military in the area are in the pockets of the Ampatuans.

AFP: No military looting

Meanwhile, the military leadership denied reports that its ground troops in Maguindanao have engaged in massive looting involving hundreds of millions of pesos believed hidden by the powerful Ampatuan clan.

Brawner said any official investigation into these allegations is most welcome by the military leadership.

“We vehemently deny that the AFP took any amount of money from the safe of the Ampatuans, particularly from the safe of Andal Ampatuan Sr. in his mansion in Shariff Aguak,” Brawner said.

Mounting allegations have been coming out that soldiers are now engaged in the hunt not for the hidden firearms of the Ampatuans but for millions of pesos stashed by the family.

One published report had it that soldiers took P400 million to P600 million in cash from the vault of the former governor’s mansion while searching for firearms and documentary evidence that would pin him down in the Nov. 23 massacre.

Brawner said the allegations were baseless because the raid was covered by national and local media and the operations were seen on national television.

“The raid was conducted during the enforcement of the state of martial law and accusations that our soldiers took the money is not true. There were media witnesses,” he said, adding that the vault was already empty when it was opened by the troops with the help of the Ampatuans’ house help.

Brawner also pointed out that information on these allegations of looting appeared to be coming from the camp of the Ampatuans themselves.

The AFP, he said, maintained a detailed list of the recovered items from day one of their operations and no cash was ever recovered by the troops.

“Before it was P400 million, today P600 million, maybe tomorrow it would be P800 million,” Brawner said, referring to the supposed cash the soldiers allegedly took from the Ampatuans.

“These are pure allegations, baseless allegations by members of the Ampatuan clan,” Brawner added.