“Accountability must go as high as possible,” she told the gathering of Muslim religious leaders at the Waterfront Insular hotel here.

Except for six persons who just happened to pass the highway at the wrong time, the rest were part of a convoy en route to the provincial office of the Commission on Elections in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao, to file the certificate of candidacy of Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu who is running for governor.

The convoy was just a few kilometers away from Shariff Aguak, the next town after Ampatuan, when stopped reportedly by about a hundred armed men led by Datu Unsay Mayor Datu Andal Ampatuan, Jr. shorly before noon.  

Ampatuan, Jr. at that time wanted to run for governor. And like his father in 2007, he wanted to run unopposed.

The killers, with the help of a backhoe, had buried 35 of the 58 persons and three of the eight vehicles  in three gravesites at around 3 p.m. when Ltc Sespene who was “on board personal chopper of Mayor Jong Mangudadatu to conduct reconnaissance in the area spotted five vehicles and landed at the site and linked up with 64IB forces who were in the vicinity,” the November 24 report to Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales and Presidential Adviser on Mindanao Jesus Dureza, said.

A state of emergency was declared on November 24. This was elevated to martial law by December 4 but it was lifted on December 12 after the arrest of then OIC Maguindanao governor Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr., ARMM Governor Datu Zaldy Ampatuan, Shariff Aguak Mayor Anwar Ampatuan, former OIC Governor Sajid Ampatuan and OIC Vice Governor Akmad "Tato" Ampatuan, husband of the eldest child of Ampatuan Sr. and Bai Laila Uy Ampatuan.

Since the early part of December, authorities had dug up several cache of  high-powered firearms and ammunition, many of them government-issued. An arms cache dug up in an area near the mansion of then OIC Governor Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr. was described  by then 601^st Brigade chief Col. Leo Cresente Ferrer as  “more than enough to supply a brigade-size unit of the military.”

Ferrer also said the ammunition boxes retrieved had markings of Armscor, which supplies ammunition to the military, police and  civilians but only upon the authorization of the government.

He said some of the boxes bore the date of manufacture, June 2009, or just about five months earlier.

More firearms and ammunition were dug up this week but nearly two months after the first wave of diggings that yielded firearms and ammunition, investigators have yet to release its findings  on how the weapons found their way into the Ampatuans’ arsenal.

Two months later, the remains of Midland Review photographer Reynaldo “Bebot” Momay have yet to be accounted for. Only his dentures have been found.

The CHR has been helping the relatives of Momay look for his remains.

De Lima said the CHR as an institution is developing a “schizophrenic personality.”  

”In as much as we are doing a very serious investigation, an independent parallel fact-finding probe into the massacre itself, we also have to be protective of  the rights of the accused because that’s part of our mandate.

She narrated that in the aftermath of  the massacre, the CHR visited 18 to 20 men in the Cotabato City jail – “the so-called CVOs (Civilian Volunteers Organization) who were also charged for rebellion na basta na lang silang pinagdadampot (who were picked up) just because they were seen assembling in the public market of Shariff Aguak,” to ensure their rights were protected.

She said the CHR also visited the  two CVOs who reportedly participated in the crime and were later brought to Camp Crame, “to ensure their rights are being protected while under custodial investigation.”

“This is a perfect example of a split personality:  we are protecting and we are helping seek justice in massacre (but we) also have to be protective also of the human rights of the accused,” De Lima added. (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

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