Massacre suspect escapes

BULUAN, Maguindanao, Philippines – A ranking police official implicated in the massacre of 57 people in the province in November last year escaped from detention at the Sultan Kudarat provincial jail late Tuesday.

Officials yesterday failed to explain how former Maguindanao provincial police director Superintendent Piang Adam managed to escape.

The jailbreak occurred while local officials and the police were busy preparing for the visit of President Arroyo to the province.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) was tasked to lead a team from the Philippine National Police Regional Office-12 and the PNP regional office in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to track down Adam.

The escape was discovered after jail guards of the Sultan Kudarat provincial jail saw the broken padlock on the door of his detention cell.

“Authorities learned about the escape of retired Superintendent Adam yesterday. We have issued a flash alarm in the region to immediately arrest him,” PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina said.

Espina said an investigation is underway on how Adam managed to escape, including the possibility that he might have been sprung by his former subordinates, perhaps even with the help of jail guards.

PNP Regional Office 12 police director Chief Superintendent Josefino Cataluna said Adam was reported missing yesterday.

He said Adam was last seen entering his detention cell at 4 p.m. Tuesday, but the guard assigned to the former police official reported his disappearance only yesterday morning.

Cataluna did not identify any jail guard, but reports identified him as a certain Tahak Kadalum, who was assigned to accompany Adam to his detention cell.

Following the disappearance of Adam, Cataluna ordered the investigation of all jail guards.

Adam was among those charged for the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao on Nov. 23, with Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. as the principal suspect.

Adam is also facing charges of malversation of public funds before the Department of Justice (DOJ) for allegedly supplying some of the government-owned firearms to the Ampatuans. He was also charged for falsification of public documents.

Espina though clarified that police are still looking into Adam’s direct participation in the November massacre.

Sources claimed Adam could be the “missing link” in finding out who the real mastermind of the carnage is.

They added Adam might have been sprung out of jail by his supporters from his hometown of Quirino, also in Sultan Kudarat.

“Adam has been chafing about the snail’s pace of his case, and has long signified his intention to escape,” the source said.

Adam is reportedly running for mayor of Pandag town in Maguindanao in the May 10 elections against his wife Jocelyn.

Apart from Adam, Police Inspector Bona Tambokon of the Shariff Aguak Police was also charged with three counts of malversation of public funds, while SPO1 Boy Pendulat Sambulawan, chief of police of Shariff Aguak town, and Police Officers 1 Warden Legawan and Samrudin Abdullah of Datu Saudi Ampatuan Police were likewise charged in the same case.

CIDG-ARMM police director Superintendent Nilo Berdin Jr. said Adam and four of his men were accused of fabricating a police report to make it appear that the 104 high-powered firearms that went missing were among those destroyed by a fire that razed the police armory in Shariff Aguak in 2008.

“Some of the said firearms... were (later) recovered from the Ampatuans’ properties during the random search operations of our operatives after the Nov. 23 massacre,” Berdin added.

Adam was arrested in Sultan Kudarat last December when the military raided his home and seized several high-powered firearms and explosives.

President Arroyo had placed Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat under martial law for eight days following the massacre.

The President authorized the military to go after the Ampatuans and their supporters and seize control of the province to contain the supposed rebellion.

Mrs. Arroyo finally lifted martial law but ordered the military to continue enforcing the state of emergency in the provinces.

Speaking with reporters in Davao City last Tuesday night, the President said she has not received any recommendation from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to lift the state of emergency.

The President went to Maguindanao yesterday, her first visit to the province since the Nov. 23 massacre took place.

Mrs. Arroyo is currently on her agribusiness Mindanao super region tour and her second leg yesterday took her to Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur.

Last Monday, the President went on yet another bus ride to inspect the Lingig, Surigao del Sur portion of the Surigao-Davao Coastal Road.

The President’s visit to Maguindanao yesterday highlighted the fact that security in the province has improved significantly since the Nov. 23 incident.

Security in the province was apparently a cause for concern for security forces, particularly those in charge of the President’s safety, because she decided against a visit in spite of expectations that she would check on the situation in Maguindanao after the massacre.

Mrs. Arroyo was a frequent visitor of Maguindanao owing to the fact that the Ampatuans were her allies and the province delivered a significant number of votes for her during her bid for the presidency in 2004. - With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Marvin Sy, Nonong Baliao