First of all, I would like to show some gratitude on inquirer.net on posting a map and timeline of the Maguindanao Massacre.It can also be seen in http://symbianize.com/showthread.php?t=169592
Among those earlier confirmed killed were Buluan Vice Mayor Ismael Mangudadatu’s wife Jenalyn, his sister-in-law and currently Mangudadatu town Vice Mayor Eden, their youngest sister Bai Farina and his cousins Zorayda Bernan, Raida Sapalon and Rowena Ante Mangudadatu.
The retrieval team also found the bullet-riddled bodies of lawyers Connie Brizuela and Cynthia Oquendo, as well as journalists Alejandro “Bong” Reblando of Manila Bulletin, Henry Araneta of DZRH as well as freelancers Marife Montano, Maritess Cablitas, Rey Merescon and Jun Legarta.
But aside from the members of the Mangudadatu family, the two lawyers and the estimated 30 journalists who joined their convoy, Dangane said they recovered the remains of several employees of the National Economic and Development Authority in Region 12, city government of Tacurong in Sultan Kudarat and several other civilians.
“They happened to be there (at the highway) and the suspects also held and later killed them,” the police official said.
Dangane did not initially name the identities of the recovered remains saying they will have to undergo further verification.
He said they have also started Tuesday afternoon the transport of the recovered bodies to Koronadal City in South Cotabato where an autopsy will be conducted by forensic experts.
Around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, the bodies of Jenalyn and Bai Farina arrived at the Allen Memorial Home in Koronadal City for autopsy.
Among those who brought the remains of the three were Vice Mayor Ismael Mangudadatu, Buluan Mayor Ibrahim Mangudadatu and Sultan Kudarat Governor Suharto Mangudadatu.
About a hundred armed men reportedly held and later killed the members of the Mangudadatu family and the two women lawyers and journalists who accompanied the Mangudadatus on the way to the Commission on Elections provincial office in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao to file the certificate of candidacy for Maguindanao governor of Buluan Vice Mayor Ismael Mangudadatu.
The suspects, who were tagged as hired guns of the Ampatuan family, initially stopped the convoy in Barangay Saniag at around 9:00 am and brought them at gunpoint to the vicinity of barangays Salman and Malating, which is about 10 kilometers from the national highway.
A back hoe allegedly owned by the provincial government of Maguindanao was reportedly used in burying some of the victims.
Dangane said they found the abandoned heavy equipment Tuesday morning positioned near the scattered remains of some of the victims and a cliff that appeared to be freshly filled with soil at the vicinity of Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town.
The back hoe reportedly carried the name of the provincial government of Maguindanao and Gov. Andal Ampatuan.
“They could have used (the back hoe) in dumping and burying the bodies of the victims,” said Dangane, who joined the ongoing joint police and military retrieval operations in the area.
Dangane, who earlier served as police director in General Santos City and Sarangani province, said he was still trying to locate some of the missing journalists, who were mostly from the cities of General Santos and Koronadal.
Radio station Bombo Radyo Koronadal reported this afternoon that at least four persons who supposedly survived the carnage were now in the custody of the Vice Mayor Mangudadatu.
But police and army officials in the area said they could not yet verify the report as Vice Mayor Mangudadatu has not reported the matter to them.
The massacre goes far beyond an ordinary clan war. Its perpetrators apparently believe that they are beyond the reach of the law. The murderers operated in broad daylight; the murders were premeditated down to the mass burial of the victims.
The barbaric murders in the Philippines are similar to the genocides in Africa and the ethnic killings in Eastern Europe that caught the attention of the international community.
This was like the worst killings I have ever heard in my lifetime! Women were tortured, abused, mutilated and some said they were raped by the private armies of Ampatuan before actually killing them. Many were shot right through their faces, rendering them virtually unrecognizable. While some women were shot in the genital area. This Devil act of those people behind this murder should be sentence to death. They should suffer also like those innocent people they killed. I hope that the justice will prevail in this case..
Let us all pray for the victim of the massacre and for justice.
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