MANILA, Philippines—There are more mass graves in Maguindanao other than the ones where the victims of the November 23 Maguindanao massacre were found, said Philippines Commission on Human Rights Chair Leila de Lima.

“We have witnesses who can pinpoint where these (other mass graves) are,” she said at a forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) held Wednesday.

These witnesses, she said, are private citizens and policemen based in the area.  

De Lima said that they talked to these witnesses during their forensic investigation with international forensic anthropologist Dr. Jose Pablo Baraybar from Peru, and British weapons expert and field investigator Christopher Cobb-Smith. The probe was conducted November 29 to December 7.

Both experts were contacted by Atty. Harry Roque of Center for International Law Philippines to do an independent investigation.

Forensic anthropologist Dr. Jose Pablo Baraybar from Peru talking in front of international media at the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines forum on the Maguindanao Massacre, December 9, 2009.

Baraybar led many United Nations-led forensic investigations and was credited for helping convict former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori for mass murders. He headed the Office on Missing Persons and Forensics of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo.

Smith worked as an Iraq weapons inspector. He has conducted investigations into a number of high-profile human rights and humanitarian law violations in the Israeli occupied territories and those controlled by the Palestinian authority.

Death toll could be higher

Because there are other mass graves, there could be people killed who have not yet been accounted for, said Baraybar.

He added that the 57 deaths from the massacre is just based on the bodies found. He said the number of victims reported missing or killed should also be added to the count.

Baraybar said 3 mass graves have so far been found. In those sites, vehicles used by the victims were recovered. He said that one vehicle, a Tamaraw FX, was driven by Jephon Cadagdgan, a businessman from General Santos City. It is possible that Cadagdagan was travelling alone, but if he had other passengers with him, then there could really be more victims.

One more victim

Of the 57 dead, 3 are still unidentified. “There are 4 families claiming the 3 bodies,” said de Lima.

“This would imply that there is at least one more victim not recovered nor reported and associated to this event,” Baraybar said in his report which he read in the forum.

De Lima also said that even the Mangudadatus, the rivals of the Ampatuans, are not sure how many joined the convoy.

Both de Lima and Baraybar said that there were too many people in the crime scene in the afternoon and the night after the massacre.

According to eye witnesses they interviewed, Baraybar said there were still armed men at the scene of the crime with soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines. These men, he added, collected the bodies of the Mangudadatus, but left other bodies in the grave site.

“The scene was corrupted,” Baraybar said. Because bodies were moved from the scene, he said that it was very difficult for them to conduct the investigation and to “construct from the bits and pieces from what was left.”

No central investigation team

Another problem is that “far too many people are investigating,” said Baraybar. The “duplicated efforts” result in a deficient investigation.

De Lima said there are so many small pieces of evidences from the National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, and other independent agencies which need to be consolidated.

All evidence the CHR gathers will be brought to the Department of Justice, de Lima said.

Weapons expert Cobb-Smith said that a second investigation is needed to know the real sequence of events in the morning of the massacre. This is because of the problems encountered in collating information, he said.

‘Most peculiar massacre’

Baraybar said this was the first case he has handled wherein the suspect who hid the evidence seemed to want to be caught.

The massive scale of the massacre, and the large number of people buried in a location “not really hidden” makes it very peculiar, he said.

“I’m so much more used to a killer trying to hide the evidence. But, in this case, it is like the (suspect) is trying to be found,” Baraybar said.

He asked: “How can you fire so many rounds of rifles knowing people are going to hear (it)?”

What puzzles Baraybar more is the response of authorities to the shooting. It took 5 long hours for them to get to the area when there were military outposts near the massacre site. The site is only 3 kilometers away from the main highway at Barangay San Juan in Ampatuan City.

He added that the noisy excavation could have woken up nearby residents.

Baraybar said that there seems to be a “veil of impunity that surrounds this case.”