Senior Supt. Willie Dangane, Cotabato City police director who is supervising the ongoing retrieval operations, said the 24 bodies were found buried at a shallow portion of a freshly filled cliff and another shallow grave at the vicinity of Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town.

“So far our Soco (scene of the crime operation) team has recovered a total of 46 bodies and 28 of them were already identified by their families,” he said.

He said the bodies were recovered by the retrieval team between 1:00 pm and 5:00 p.m. Tuesday using shovels and a back hoe.

MASS EXHUMATION.  A police investigator checks on the remains of one of those killed in the Nov 23 Maguindanao massacre. MindaNews photo courtesy of Rommel G Rebollido

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.

Still missing were Bombo Radyo Koronadal’s chief reporter Bart Maravilla, Ian Subang of Pilipino Star Ngayon and several other local reporters.

LONG WAIT. Funeral hearses and personnel wait for the cadavers of the Nov. 23 Maguindanao carnage to be exhumed from a deep grave at a hilltop in barangay Masalay, some five kilometers from a highway junction in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, where a military detachment is located. MindaNews photo by Rommel G Rebollido

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. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)

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