Suspect in massacre insists he is innocent

GENERAL SANTOS CITY - The main suspect in Monday's massacre of 57 persons in Maguindanao province faces multiple murder raps after a judicial investigation was conducted on Thursday, but insisted he was innocent.

"The taking in, inquest, and the subsequent filing of charges against Datu Unsay Ampatuan is just the beginning. The government will be relentless in bringing to justice all responsible for the gruesome Maguindanao massacre. President Arroyo wants all the culprits punished without fear or favor," the Palace said in a statement after the suspect, Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., was brought to General Santos City for judicial investigation.

Ampatuan Jr. turned himself in to Presidential Adviser Jesus Dureza at the Maguindanao provincial capitol after security forces took over the building before dawn Thursday morning.

A waiting helicopter brought the mayor to General Santos City where he was received by Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera. Prosecutors, led by Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño, conducted inquest proceedings in General Santos City, radio dzMM reported.

In a brief interview, Ampatuan insisted he did not orchestrate the horrifying killings in his home province of Maguindanao, where his family has been a dominant political force for decades.

"There is no truth to that," he told reporters at Awang Airport in General Santos.

Philippine government officials had been negotiating since Tuesday with Ampatuan's family for him to submit to questioning.

The massacre occurred after about 100 Ampatuan gunmen allegedly abducted a convoy of aides and relatives of a rival politician, Esmael Mangudadatu, plus a group of journalists.

The victims were snatched as they were traveling in a six-vehicle convoy to nominate Mangudadatu as the opposition candidate for provincial governor in next year's national elections. They were shot a short time later and dumped or buried in shallow graves on a remote farming road close to a town bearing the Ampatuan name.

Fifty-seven bodies have been recovered so far.

Other suspects in the massacre named

Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Ronaldo Puno on Thursday revealed that the entire Ampatuan clan will undergo investigation for their alleged role in the murders of 57 people, including journalists and supporters of a rival political clan in Ampatuan, Maguindanao last Monday.

In a press conference, Puno said that aside from Ampatuan Jr., the DOJ has listed four other people as suspects in the crime, including Maguindanao police provincial director Senior Superintendent Abusana Maguid, Shariff Aguak police Chief Inspector Sukarno Dikay, a certain SPO2 Bakal, and an Inspector Diobingan.

He said the four were implicated in the murders based on the statements of alleged survivors of the massacre.

Puno said Dureza had given an ultimatum to the Ampatuan clan to surrender Ampatuan Jr. for questioning about the massacre or face the full force of the law.

Puno said law enforcers secured the provincial capitol of Maguindanao and the municipal halls of Shariff Aguak and Ampatuan and were disarming a total of 347 militiamen in the province to prevent further bloodshed.

No appeasement, negotiation

"There has never been any appeasement. There has never been any negotiation. The families of the suspect have been told what our position is on the matter. As an example, if Datu Unsay Ampatuan would not have boarded the helicopter to bring him to General Santos City and then to Manila today, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police were prepared to take action and exert all physical force to make sure that the suspect would be brought to the inquest," he told reporters.

Puno said the Department of Justice (DOJ) will also investigate other members of the Ampatuan clan for possible complicity in the murders. "We have to address this crime very, very forcefully...That is not the end of the investigation until we find and bring to justice all of those who in one way or the other involved in the conduct in this heinous crime," he said.

At the start of the press conference, the DILG chief said the national government had to remain mum about some of the details of the government's investigation until after they were conducted. He said this included getting sworn depositions of four survivors of the massacre who were under the care of the Mangudadatus.

He said the National Police Commission has passed a resolution withdrawing the deputization of all local government units in Maguindanao. This means that the governor and municipal mayors in Maguindanao will no longer have direct supervision of police forces in their jurisdiction, he said.

"The general direction is to remove all policemen in Maguindanao and transfer them elsewhere," he said.

Philippine National Police chief Jesus Verzosa said he would ask the national government to be allowed to replace the entire police force of Maguindanao.

The military said most of the Ampatuan family's militiamen alleged to have carried out the massacre were still on the run.

"Most of the armed group that perpetrated this crime have run away towards the mountainous area of Maguindanao," military spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner told ABS-CBN. "That is where we are conducting our pursuit operations."

The ruling Lakas Kampi CMD coalition late on Wednesday expelled both Ampatuans from the party.

Ampatuan Jr's brother, Zaldy, governor of an autonomous region on Mindanao that includes Maguindanao, was also expelled. - with reports from Patricia Evangelista, ANC; and Agence France-Presse