Is slain man massacre witness? PNP still verifying

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Police (PNP) yesterday sent investigators to Maguindanao in the effort to investigate the murder of a supposed witness against the Ampatuan family.

Senior Superintendent Benito Estipona of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said their initial findings revealed the murder victim was not the same person who granted select interviews to the media and calling himself “Jessie.”

Estipona showed a picture of the murdered witness, a certain Saudi Upam, a civilian volunteer in Maguindanao.

The picture was different from Suwaid Upham, the man who called himself Jessie and confessed to being one of the gunmen that directly took part in the Maguindanao massacre of 57 people on Nov. 23.

Estipona said investigators were sent to the towns of Parang in Maguindanao and to the province of Sultan Kudarat to verify other information about the slain witness.

He said the man who was murdered last June 14 in Parang was identified as Suwaib Dalanda, a native of Sultan Kudarat.

“So we sent investigators to Sultan Kudarat to talk to the family (of the victim) to find out if indeed he was the witness who called himself Jessie,” Estipona said.

The Maguindanao provincial police also said they are still verifying the exact identity of the victim.

“What we have on record, based on inputs from our operatives there, is that the victim is a certain Suwaib Dalanda, not Suwaid Upham,” according to Maguindanao police director Superintendent Alex Lineses.

“We’re still investigating his exact identity to determine if this Suwaid Upham and Suwaib Dalanda are one and the same person,” he said.

Lineses said they are now validating from certain informants in Parang and in other towns in Maguindanao the identity of the victim.

“Let’s give our investigators enough time to wind up their task of determining who really this murdered person is. Our intelligence agents have also been operating parallel to that objective,” Lineses said.

PNP Deputy Director General Jefferson Soriano, on the other hand, assured the government that it has a strong case against the accused in the Maguindanao massacre amid reports that a key witness had been murdered.

Soriano stressed the government has enough evidence to support the conviction of the Ampatuan family members and their supporters who are accused in the carnage.

“Our case for the Maguindanao (massacre) case stands strong even without additional testimony from possible witnesses, the testimony of the witnesses that we have at hand, we are sure that we can prosecute successfully the case,” Soriano said.

“That’s the commitment and the assurance we want to give to the public,” he said.

Soriano gave the assurance following reports that self-confessed gunman Suwaib Upham was murdered on June 14.

Upham introduced himself as Jessie last March and admitted directly taking part in the massacre.

Upham reportedly identified the other gunmen as former Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., his cousins Kanor Ampatuan, Ban Ampatuan, and Mama Ampatuan, Police Officer 1 Ando Masukat, and a certain Kudja.

Ampatuan Jr. is leading the accused since several witnesses at the massacre site had identified him.

Upham said other Ampatuan family members that included former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy Ampatuan ordered the killings.

Upham revealed he was among the gunmen that killed Genalyn Mangudadatu, the wife of now Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu. He said Andal Jr. ordered all of them to open fire at the victims with their automatic rifles.

The US government also condemned the killing of Upham.

US Ambassador Harry K. Thomas Jr. urged the Philippine authorities to immediately investigate the killing.

“I deplore the murder of Mr. Suwaib Upham, who bravely came forward to testify about the tragic Maguindanao massacre. I urge the Philippine authorities to conduct a swift investigation into his death and bring those responsible to justice,” Thomas said in a statement.

Thomas said the murder of a vital witness “adds additional urgency to the need for swift investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the brutal massacre.”

“Too many families still await justice, and now the Upham family joins them,” he said.

Thomas stressed Washington would continue to support Manila’s efforts to build capacity to investigate and prosecute such crimes.

Justice Secretary Alberto Agra ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into the supposed killing of Upham.

Agra, however, doubted the credibility of Upham as a witness since he never talked to any of the prosecutors handling the case.

“He never presented himself to us. It is important that the witness will submit himself to the PNP or the NBI so that we can get his testimony. We need to ensure that the testimony is credible and will help the prosecution,” Agra explained.

Agra stressed the importance of choosing witnesses.

“I am not generalizing but there are some witnesses who are planted and out to muddle the case. It is our job to make sure that the witnesses we use in prosecution will strengthen our case,” he said.

One and the same

Police regional director Chief Superintendent Bienvenido Latag called on religious leaders and local executives to gather any information on the circumstances surrounding the death of Dalanda or Upham.

Local officials said the Department of Justice (DOJ) should have taken Upham into custody if indeed he confessed to being one of the triggermen in the massacre.

Lawyer Harry Roque, legal counsel of the families of the victims in the massacre, claimed Upham had been staying in Manila for two months since March to apply for the witness protection program.

Roque said Upham returned home to Mindanao after realizing that the DOJ turned him down.

Roque said Upham was supposed to be interviewed at the office of Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chairman Leila de Lima, but after the witness protection program officials arrived, they insisted that the interview should be conducted at the DOJ.

Roque also insisted Dalanda and Upham are one and the same person.

According to Roque, Upham used the surname Dalanda to hide his true identity, being the prospective principal witness in what could be described as the worst election-related violence in the country in recent history.

Soriano, on the other hand, said “Suwaib Upham” is not included among the possible witnesses but named a certain “Saudi Upham” as among them.

“First, he (Suwaib) is not an accused insofar as the Maguindanao massacre is concerned. Second, he was not even part of the witnesses officially introduced or surrendered by any group to the PNP or the NBI,” he said.

Agra, for his part, also pointed out Upham was not included among the accused in the case.

He said Upham should have surrendered first and confessed to the crime before qualifying to be a state witness.

“He (Upham) must be subjected to trial. If he applied for witness protection, there’s a process and he could qualify if he fits the requirements needed to become state witness,” Agra said.

Disbarment

Agra also slammed Roque for jeopardizing the security of Upham that eventually led to the murder.

“He (Roque) never presented the witness to us despite the setting of meetings, he canceled the meetings. This is not an ordinary witness because the witness is also an accused,” Agra said.

Agra said he is considering filing a disbarment case against Roque for preventing the DOJ from taking custody of Upham.

He accused Roque of irresponsibility in the custody of the prospective witness.

“Now he is blaming us because we did not talk to the witness. How can we put Jessie into our WPP (witness protection program) if that witness was never presented to us? Now that the witness died, and we condone with the family, he (Roque) will blame the DOJ, the prosecutors and me,” Agra lamented.

Roque, on the other hand, welcomed Agra’s threat of disbarment “so that we can determine who should be disbarred.”

“(Is it) the one who fought for the Ampatuans or the one who absolved them (that should be disbarred), (or) the one who sought protection for a vital witness or the one who refused to give it,” he said.

Agra said Roque has shown disrespect to the authority of the DOJ and the prosecutors. He said prosecutors should have control and supervision over the case, including the private counsels.

He said Roque was trying to prevent the DOJ and the state prosecutors from taking custody of Upham.

The prosecutors in the case issued a statement to support Agra’s claim against Roque.

Chief State Prosecutor Claro Arellano led the fiscals in saying Roque should be held accountable for Upham’s murder.

“It should be stressed that it was not the DOJ who exposed (Upham) in public. The DOJ did not know his whereabouts as well as the fact that he went back to Maguindanao because attorney Roque did not inform us,” the prosecutors said.

The DOJ panel confirmed Roque had informed them of Upham as a prospective witness. They said Roque was trying to arrange a meeting between the prosecutors and Upham either at the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City or a hotel in Makati.

Arellano said the prosecutors requested the meeting should be held at the DOJ for security reasons but Roque disagreed.

Afterwards, Arellano said they never heard from Roque and his prospective witness again.

Arellano said Roque disregarded the rules requiring private counsels to coordinate with prosecutors before making any manifestations in court.

“It is attorney Roque’s belligerent attitude to the DOJ (not just to the Secretary of Justice) that is the obstacle to complete harmony between public and private prosecutors,” the DOJ panel said.

Agra, for his part, added Roque was playing by his own rules.

“He (Roque) does not follow the rules. How come we don’t have this problem with Nena Santos?” Agra said, referring to the other private counsel representing the families of the victims of the massacre.

Agra dismissed Roque’s allegations that Upham backed out from the witness protection program because some ranking DOJ officials are already dealing with the Ampatuans.

He suggested Upham might have backed out from witness protection on fears that he might get arrested.

Agra also stressed the murder of Upham would not set back the prosecution of the case.

Police also announced the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has approved P250,000 bounty for each of the 134 accused who are still at large.

Senior Superintendent Benito Estipona, deputy chief for operations of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said they are waiting for the DILG to make the formal announcement on the reward for the arrest of the other accused.

“We have recommended that reward be appropriated for their capture, we are waiting for DILG approval, and initial info was P250,000 per head. We are also planning to come up with wanted posters to expedite the arrest,” Estipona added.

Estipona said that at present, there are 196 accused in the multiple murder case, of which 62 have been accounted for and taken into custody.

Police are hunting down 134 other accused, mostly armed civilian volunteers of the Ampatuans. With John Unson, Evelyn Macairan, Edu Punay, Pia Lee-Brago and Michael Punongbayan