Philippines: Investigate Killing of Massacre Witness

[Judi Lynn]

Philippines: Investigate Killing of Massacre Witness
Government Fails to Protect Threatened Witness
June 23, 2010

(New York) - The Philippine National Bureau of Investigation should immediately investigate the latest killing of a witness to the November 2009 massacre of at least 58 people in Maguindanao province, Mindanao, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called on the government to act swiftly to protect witnesses and their families.

An unidentified gunman shot and killed Suwaib Upham, a witness to the Maguindanao killings known publicly as "Jesse," shortly after 8 p.m. June 14, 2010, in Parang municipality, Maguindanao. He had agreed to testify against members of the powerful Ampatuan family, who were accused in the killings, if afforded witness protection. Three months before he was killed, Human Rights Watch had raised protection issues regarding Upham with Justice Department officials in Manila, yet the department was still considering his request for protection at the time of his killing.
"Massacre witnesses are dying while the government sits on its hands," said Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Suwaib Upham took enormous personal risks by agreeing to testify against Ampatuan family members, yet the government, knowing full well he was in danger, did nothing. This sends the worst possible message to other witnesses thinking of coming forward."

Upham had been a militia member for the Ampatuans, Maguindanao's most powerful ruling family. Upham came out of hiding in February and offered to testify about the massacre through one of the private prosecutors in the Ampatuan trial. In exchange for his testimony, he sought protection.

At the time of the 2009 massacre, the Ampatuans commanded a state-backed militia of thousands of men, which included paramilitary force members, police, and military personnel. Upham knew the inner workings of the Ampatuans' state-backed militia, their sources of weapons, and the command structure of the police, military, and paramilitary forces in Maguindanao. He also knew details of past abuses perpetrated by the Ampatuans and their private army.

More:
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/06/23/philippines-investigate-killing-massacre-witness

http://nimg.sulekha.com.nyud.net:8090/others/original700/gloria-macapagal-arroyo-zaldy-ampatuan-didagen-dilangalen-2009-11-23-20-41-0.jpg

http://www.spot.ph.nyud.net:8090/files/2009/11/gma-ampatuan.jpg

Phillipine President Gloria Arroyo with Zaldy Ampatuan, governor

http://api.ning.com.nyud.net:8090/files/JYPCx-c7mTB0sT3khTwybaLAb1oay2rVu6knZSzWRFlzjQ3daT3XUHbSxKhD1hzjPDifPogafh2TJGmh7-8g5fBJQeCxWzz9/arroyo_bush.jpg http://www.fisherhouse.com.nyud.net:8090/courses/arroyo.jpg

http://www.metropolitanmanila.com.nyud.net:8090/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/maguindanao-massacre-300x198.jpg

3 Ampatuans expels by Kampi
Posted by jhenay on Nov 26th, 2009

Because of the senseless and gruesome killings of innocent people in Maguindanao, Lakas -Kampi CMD expelled the members of the powerful Ampatuan clan Wednesday night. Expelled from the party were Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Zaldy Ampatuan, and former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr.

The authority named Datu Unsay town Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. as the main suspect in the massacre of at least 60 people.

Administration party chair and standard bearer Gilberto Teodoro Jr. stated that they came into a decision after its National Executive Committee unanimously voted to expel the 3 Ampatuans in a meeting Wednesday evening in Pasig City.

“We feel that they have failed to exercise their moral and actual authority over their clan members which is most probably the cause of the incident,” Teodoro said.

http://www.metropolitanmanila.com/?p=196

[midnight]

1. I think the last sentence is spot on.

[LoKnLoD]

2. Arroyo has no interest in these guys being convicted

Arroyo has no interest in these guys being convicted. They helped give her the last election.

[Prometheus Bound]

3. Apparantly the government 'refused' to put him into a witness protection programme.

Which meant certain death for the star witness.

Witness to Philippines political massacre is murdered
Karl Wilson, Foreign Correspondent
Last Updated: June 24. 2010 10:06PM UAE / June 24. 2010 6:06PM GMT

MANILA // A key witness in the worst political massacre in recent Philippine history has been murdered after the justice department refused to put him into a witness protection programme, a prosecution lawyer said yesterday.

Suwaib Upham surfaced in March and claimed he had taken part in the massacre of 58 people, including 30 journalists, in the southern province of Maguindanao on November 23.

He was shot by a lone gunman near his home in Maguindanao on June 14.

According to the lawyer Harry Roque, who is counsel for 14 of the murdered journalists’ families, Upham was his star witness in the case.

In an interview with Al Jazeera television not long after he made his claims, Upham outlined in graphic detail how senior members of the then powerful Ampatuan clan had plotted the massacre that was aimed at stopping a political opponent from running for governor of the impoverished province in the May 10 elections.

<snip>

Upham, in his interview with Al Jazeera, admitted to having been one of seven gunmen who murdered the 58 victims of the massacre.

He identified the other gunmen as Andal Ampatuan Jr; the latter’s cousins Kanor Ampatuan; Ban Ampatuan and Mama Ampatuan; the police officer Ando Masukat and a man he knew only as Kudja. He said the former governor of Maguindanao, Andal Ampatuan Sr, and Zaldy Ampatuan, the former governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, ordered the killings.

Upham said the first to be killed was the wife of Maguindanao’s recently elected governor, Esmael “Toto” Mangundadatu.

“Unsay then ordered all seven gunmen to fire indiscriminately at all members of the ill-fated convoy, many of whom were still in their vehicles. He also recounted how witnesses pleaded for their lives,” he said.

Many of the victims were not only shot but hacked with machetes and run over by trucks before being buried in a series of quickly dug mass graves. According to Mr Roque, the prosecution “has now lost” its best witness. He said Upham returned to Maguindanao in April after the justice department would not give him protection.

Upham told Al Jazeera: “After the killings, Unsay bade farewell to his men before surrendering to authorities. He said nothing will happen to him and that their (Ampatuan’s) money can buy all of them (the government).”
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100625/FOREIGN/706249897/1002

[Judi Lynn]

4. Unbearably hideous. What a shame to know we've been supporting these monsters. Thank you. n/t