Clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr. was implicated in the slaughter of 57 people in Maguindanao last Nov. 23, a witness told a court Wednesday in the the trial of the prime suspect the in massacre. Rasul Sangki, vice mayor of Ampatuan town, told court on the second day of the multiple-murder trial of detained Datu Unsay town Andal Ampatuan Jr. that the patriarch had ordered his son to carry out the killings. Sangki said he witnessed the massacre from the time Andal Jr. and his private army commandeered the convoy led by the wife of Buluan town Vice Mayor Ismael “Toto” Mangudadatu and later killed on a nearby hill. Sangki told the court he had seen Andal Jr. shot two women and a journalist he identified as Jimmy “Pal-ak” Cabillo. The accused allegedly used an M-16 armalite on which an M-203 grenade launcher was attached. He added that Andal Jr. and his militiamen fired at the bodies of the victims to make sure they were dead. Sangki denied having shot any of the victims. Ampatuan, the only one indicted so far in the deaths, pleaded innocent to murder charges at his arraignment when the trial opened last week. His father and several other close relatives have been implicated but not formally indicted in the killings. They also face separate charges of rebellion. Sangki told the court he witnessed the killings after Ampatuan summoned him to a road checkpoint where police officers stopped the caravan in which the victims were traveling. “I went with him because I was scared,” Sangki said. “If I did not follow him, he might get mad at our family. He is feared in our province.” He said the victims were ordered at gunpoint to lay face-down and then were divested of money, cell phones and TV cameras. They were then herded back into their cars and led to a hilltop clearing several miles away, Sangki said. Sangki testified that he heard Ampatuan speak to someone on a radio, saying “Father, they are here.” The voice on the other end replied, “You know what to do,” Sangki told the court. As gunshots rang out, the victims pleaded for their lives and women screamed. One of the journalists pleaded with Ampatuan to spare his life, Sangki said. Armed with an M-16 rifle fitted with a grenade launcher, Ampatuan shot him as well as the sister and wife of his election rival, Esmael Mangudadatu. Sangki testified that two of Ampatuan's uncles and a nephew, who also is a brother-in-law of Sangki, were among those who shot the victims. “They continued firing on those who had been gunned down ... in the head and other parts of the body to make sure they will not survive,” he said. Following the slaughter, Sangki said Ampatuan told him to return to the checkpoint “and tell the people they saw and heard nothing.” Defense lawyer Sigfrid Fortun questioned Sangki why it took him 18 days after the killings to prepare an affidavit of his allegations. The vice mayor replied that he was too scared to speak out sooner. “I lost trust in the law,” he said. “The police and the military – they (Ampatuans) control them.” Sangki is among eight prosecution witnesses testifying against a request for bail filed by Ampatuan. All the evidence presented in the bail hearings will form part of the records of the main trial.
