Andal Jr.'s aide, wife face raps

MANILA, Philippines –  Families of victims of the Maguindanao massacre have asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to charge in court a former security aide of principal suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr. for allegedly taking part in the mass murder in 2009.

The Maguindanao provincial police also filed charges before the DOJ against one of former Datu Unsay mayor Ampatuan Jr.’s two wives after several unlicensed high-powered firearms and ammunition were confiscated from her group during a confrontation at the Ampatuan municipal police station last Jan. 13.

Private prosecutor Harry Roque, representing the victims’ families, said S/Sgt. Joselito Andrada has been in the Army’s custody since last year over an administrative case.

Andrada can become an accused – the 197th in the case – after the DOJ finds probable cause to charge him in court, he added. Roque said accused Police Officer 1 Rainier Ebus can become a state witness and implicate Andrada in the murders.

“What is clear from the sworn statement of PO1 Ebus is that Staff Sergeant Andrada was an active participant in the conspiracy to murder the members of the convoy organized by (then Buluan town) vice mayor (Esmael) Mangudadatu,” read the complaint.

Roque said Ebus identified Andrada through a photograph showed to him. In his supplemental affidavit, Ebus said Andrada was with him at Ampatuan Jr.’s house four days before the massacre.

The victims’ kin said in their complaint that Andrada was allegedly part of a group that manned a checkpoint starting Nov. 19, 2009, and “finally, he was there on that fateful day the Ampatuan-instigated blocking party waylaid that convoy in mid-morning of Nov. 23, 2009.”

As the Maguindanao massacre trial – presided by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes – continued yesterday, National Bureau of Investigation medico-legal officer Dr. Reynaldo Romero testified on the results of the autopsy on the remains of Bai Eden Mangudadatu, Bai Farina Hassan and Sorayda Bernan.

Eden and Farina are sisters of Mangudadatu, now Maguindanao governor. Bernan is their cousin.

According to Romero, Eden sustained 10 gunshot wounds. One of the bullets lacerated her right lung, and most likely was the fatal bullet. As for Farina, Romero said she suffered nine gunshot wounds, three of which entered her back and lacerated her intestines.

Romero said Bernan suffered six gunshot wounds, two of which were fatal. He said one of the bullets entered her brain, with the muzzle of the gun most likely pressed against her chin when it was fired. Bernan also had another bullet lacerate her right lung, he said.

Meanwhile, Ampatuan town Mayor Bai Reshal Ampatuan and her bodyguards Kuka Guiamalon Ebos, Kaking Ingko, Apel Lauban, Denex Sacal, Esmael Sandigan Abdul, Kahandin Asim Saudagal, James Abdul and Datunot Paglas were charged with illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

Maguindanao provincial police director Senior Superintendent Marcelo Pintac said his men hurried to the police station, where Ampatuan’s wife and bodyguards clashed with a group of residents protesting that her group tore down streamers attached to a fence surrounding the station.

Pintac said they seized eight high-powered firearms, including MP5 and M16 rifles, from the Ampatuan mayor and her group. – With Edu Punay, Rose Tamayo