PNP beefs up hunt for massacre fugitives

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Police (PNP) has intensified efforts to capture the 100 remaining fugitives in the Maguindanao massacre, which will mark its second anniversary on Wednesday.

Chief Superintendent Benito Estipona, director of the PNP’s Task Force Maguindanao, went to the province last week to assess the 20 tracker teams as part of the effort to regain the momentum in arresting the other accused in the Nov. 23, 2009 mass killings.

Shortly after Quezon City Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes issued the warrants of arrest against the 195 accused in the multiple murder case in 2009, police operatives made arrests almost every day.

So far, TF Maguindanao has accounted for 95 of the 195 individuals named in the arrest order.

Estipona, concurrent deputy chief for operations of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said some of the heads and members of the tracker teams have been reassigned as part of routine re-assignment in the PNP.

But he admitted that the routine reshuffle of PNP personnel has somehow slowed down the effort to arrest the remaining suspects in the massacre.

Estipona said the tracker teams have not stopped looking for the fugitives. In fact, he said police operatives recently picked up a man initially suspected to be included in the list of the accused. However, further verification showed otherwise.

“We are assuring the public that we will not stop until all the 195 accused are all accounted for to face trial for the crime,” he said.

Among those who are being tracked by police operatives in relation to the case are nine policemen, four military personnel and 18 members of the Ampatuan clan, who are believed to have joined criminal groups to avoid arrest.