SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao  (MindaNews/28 November) – Three days before the massacre in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, the Philippine National Police in the province set up six more checkpoints along the 27-kilometer stretch from Ampatuan to Crossing Salbu  Datu Saudi Ampatuan of  the General Santos–Cotabato City national highway, purportedly in relation to Oplan Kontra Boga, a police campaign to go after holders of expired or unregistered guns.

Curiously, three of the checkpoints were set up in Ampatuan town,  within the vicinity where the six-vehicle convoy of relatives, journalists and lawyers of  Vice Mayor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu, would, three days later,  be  stopped by at least a hundred armed men, allegedly led by Datu Unsay Mayor Datu Andal Ampatuan, Jr.

November 20 was the first day for filing of certificates of candidacy for the May 2010 elections.

That same day, “there were rumors that the Ampatuans will strongly object on the fielding of candidates from the Mangudadatu side, though there were no solid indicators as to what actions they will be undertaking,” according to the briefing, a copy of which MindaNews managed to secure.

Also on the same day, “information on the plan of the group of Toto Mangudadatu to file his candidacy circulated in Maguindanao,” the briefing said.

But in Buluan, Maguindanao, Mangudadatu’s mother prevailed upon her son not to proceed to Shariff Aguak town, where the provincial office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is, to avoid trouble.

The vice mayor said this was the reason why on Monday, November 23, they sent his wife Genalin and sister Eden and other female relatives, instead.

To serve as deterrent, he said, they invited media and the female lawyers, Concepcion Jayme-Brizuela and Cynthia Oqueno, who was accompanied by her father. “We did not want to provoke anyone so we sent our women. We didn’t even provide them security personnel,” he said.

The convoy members were all unarmed.

But they never made it to the Comelec in Shariff Aguak, the  next town after Ampatuan.

While passing the highway near the corner leading to Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman (identified in the briefing as “Barangay Masalay”), an undetermined number of armed men flagged down the convoy and forced them to turn left at the corner of Masalay, on the road going up to the foothills of Daguma Range. 

The armed men, witnesses say, were led by Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan. Jr., more popularly known in the area as “Datu Unsay” or “Unsay.”

On the road to Shariff Aguak, the  UNTV vehicle was the lead vehicle. A red Toyota Vios owned by the city government of Tacurong which had five passengers and a Tamaraw FX driven by Anthony Ridao of Cotabato City happened to pass the highway at the wrong time and were also taken.

All of these vehicles passed the highway from Esperanza, the town at the boundary of Sultan Kudarat.

Curiously, on a very busy Monday morning, not a single vehicle came from the opposite direction of Shariff Aguak.

Apparently, motorists from the opposite direction, were stopped.

One of the six new checkpoints was in Barangay Labu-labu, Shariff Aguak.

When found in the crime site, only five vehicles were parked on the road, three of them empty. Female passengers were found inside the Toyota Grandia with plate number LGH 247 while some media passengers were found inside the Pajero, the briefing noted.

The mayor of Datu Unsay has been pinpointed as principal suspect in the carnage, a claim he denies and blames on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

By the end of the day, 21 bodies had been counted  -- those inside the two vehicles and those found scattered outside the vehicles on the grass or roadside. By early morning of Tuesday, one more was counted, bringing the death toll to 22.

By evening, the number would be 46 as 24 bodies were dug from the first gravesite, in what Chief. Supt. Felicisim Khu said was a “layered” burial that was intended to “deceive.”

 “Bodies, soil, bodies, soil, bodies, soil,” Khu, the officer tasked to oversee crime site and retrieval operations, said. “There were about six layers of bodies, soil, bodies, soil.’

Khu said the layering was intended to “deceive” them into believing the bodies on the first layer were the only bodies. But there were more below.

By evening of Wednesday, 11 more bodies were dug, bringing the number to 57.

“There was no beheading. All bodies were intact,” said Khu.

Although some women’s pants were unzipped, there is yet to evidence that they were sexually molested.

Khu said they may have been unzipped to check for valuables the women may have quickly hidden.

While they recovered at least 100 bullet shells, mostly from M-16 rifles, they only recovered one wallet and one cellphone. “Even the car stereos of the SUVs were taken,” he said.

Khu said the backhoe of the provincial government of Maguindanao arrived only about 30 minutes after the convoy reached Sitio Masalay.

A famer did not see the killing but heard the burst of automatic gunfire around noon.

He recalled seeing seven vehicles going up the mountain trail followed by a backhoe minutes later. He said he later saw “sobra 50” (over 50) armed men walking down the trail from what is being referred to as the first gravesite, to the direction of Shariff Aguak,

Khu said two paramilitary elements armed with shotguns took the main road and were taken in custody by the Army Monday afternoon and turned over to the OIC police chief of Ampatuan. But the police chief turned the two over to the vice mayor.  The OIC police chief was relieved as well.

Out of the eight vehicles recovered from the crime scene some three kilometers from the national highway, three were buried along with the bodies, at the second gravesite: a Tamaraw FX driven by Ridao;  a UNTV van and a red Toyota Vios owned by the  City of Tacurong.

Five vehicles were found parked on one side of the road in Sitio Masalay: Toyota Grandia vans  with plate numbers MVM 789, MVM 884, MVM 885 and LGH 247, and one Pajero with plate number MCB 335, where three bodies of journalists were found. (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

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