Original draft date: January 4, 2010
It was a hot Monday morning, the 23rd day of November 2009. A convoy of seven vehicles carrying journalists, lawyer, and relatives of Maguindanao Vice-Mayor Datu Ismael “Toto” Mangudadatu left Buluan to file Mangudadatu’s Certificate of Candidacy at the Comelec office in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao’s capital. The convoy’s exact route is uncertain but is clear that at least the last stretch of the journey was along Cotabato-Isulan national highway. Two other vehicles that are not part of the convoy happened to be traveling on the same main road. All of them were unaware that when they stop for the checkpoint in Sitito Malating, Ampatuan town, a group of about 100 armed men were just ready to bring them in their graves. The Ampatuan massacre had awaken the people of Maguindanao.
According to a detailed chronology of events written by GMA reporters Analyn Perez and TJ Dimacali, the convoy and the two other vehicles were commandeered by the armed men at undetermined times between 10.30 am to 3:00 pm, and driven to a hilly and sparsely-populated part of Sitio Magating in Brgy. Salman, Ampatuan, Maguindanao. It reportedly took them for about 30 minutes to reach the area, which is 2.5 kilometers from the highway checkpoint where the victims were abducted. In addition, CNN announced that at that site, a heavy-duty backhoe had been used to dig three mass graves. The armed were then said to have systematically killed the hostages, shooting at a close range with rapid-fire weapons which were noted by Allen Estabillo in “Ampatuan Massacre” (Mindanews) to be six different M16 rifles, AK47 rifle, and a Gauge 12 shotgun. The bodies and vehicles were dumped into the mass graves, afterward. But, the killers had barely covered them when Army troops started to approach the site. Alarmed, the culprits hurriedly flee leaving behind more than two dozen unburied corpses and vehicles as well as the back hoe used. Rina Jimenez-David condemned in “Arrogance and Impunity” the savagery done to the victims. Some of them were found to be shot in the genital area, others were mutilated, and many were shot in the face, rendering them virtually unrecognizable.
Datu Unsay town mayor, Andal Ampatuan Jr. was the primary suspected mastermind of the massacre. James Mananghaya in “Maguindanao Massacre” (The Philippine Star) said that the witnesses of the carnage identified Ampatuan Jr. as the one who allegedly led the armed men that abducted the victims in Sitio Malating. The same idea was conveyed by John Unson when he mentioned, in his own article about the massacre, the last phone call received by Vice Mayor Mangudadatu from his wife Genalyn saying that she was slapped by the prime suspect before his men killed the victims. Furthermore, the Ampatuan clan is said to be very powerful and influential in Maguindanao, controlling many local executive posts like that of the provincial governor. In fact, according to Cecile Suerte Felipe in “ The Untouchable” (The Philippine Star”) they are known to have a private army that supposedly helped in materializing the grim massacre.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared Martial Law in the southern province to impose peace on the region after the bloody incident where more than 50 people were brutally killed including lawyers, media reporters, and other defenseless and innocent civilians. Police authorities are now undertaking careful investigation for immediate solution of the case. But it seems that justice is evasive because until now, the culprits aren’t punished. Justice is still the sole cry not only by the relatives and friends of the victims, but also by those people who consider Maguindanao Massacre as a bloodbath beyond human understanding.
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