<![CDATA[Maguindanao massacre: how a manservant, a backhoe and a flurry of texts helped convict the Ampatuans]>
When a Philippine court last week sentenced dozens of police officers, militia men and two political warlords of a powerful Muslim clan to life imprisonment for a 2009 massacre in Maguindanao province, it did not use bullets or guns as evidence.
This despite authorities recovering more than 100 empty shells from a variety of assault rifles at the scene of the crime, alongside 57 mutilated, bullet-ridden bodies.
Which must have come as a shock to the legal team of Andal "Unsay" Ampatuan Jnr, former heir apparent to the powerful Ampatuan clan who witnesses say led the killing spree, which targeted the family and entourage of political rival Esmael Mangudadatu.
Unsay's former lawyer, Raymond Fortun, had told the media on the eve of the verdict that his client would walk free as "if you're not able to connect the bullet to the gun to the gunman, in a murder case, you're not going to win".
Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes issuing her verdict last Thursday. Photo: EPA alt=Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes issuing her verdict last Thursday. Photo: EPA
Yet Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes had no need to connect the guns to the gunmen " she sentenced Unsay and 28 other defendants to life imprisonment without parole after finding them guilty "beyond reasonable doubt".
In her 761-page judgment, she cited several key pieces of evidence and eyewitness accounts that had informed her decision. Here are three of them:
The trusted servant
Lakmodin Saliao was a loyal and trusted servant to the Ampatuan family, having worked for them since 1987. In 2009, he was mostly in the employ of Bai Ameerah Ampatuan-Mamalapat, but two weeks before the massacre, she offered his services to her father, then-Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Snr " head of the Amapatuan clan.
Saliao was to be the governor's manservant: preparing his medicines; tasting his food to check for poison; holding his phone while he spoke on speakerphone and scratching his back when it itched, as the judge noted.
Six days before the massacre, Andal Snr called together his brood to discuss how to stop Mangudadatu from contesting the governorship.
Lakmodin Saliao pictured in court before giving his testimony in 2010. Photo: AP alt=Lakmodin Saliao pictured in court before giving his testimony in 2010. Photo: AP
In his statement, Saliao said he heard Unsay, who was bent on becoming governor, say, "That's easy, father. Just kill them all."
At the end of the meeting, Andal Snr asked his sons and daughters: "Is it OK with all of you to kill them all?", to which the children all stood up and "laughed", Saliao said.
Another family meeting was called on the eve of the massacre to reaffirm the clan's intention to carry out the murders, Saliao said, with Zaldy Ampatuan, then-governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, telling his siblings he would go to Manila to act "as a diversion".
The next day, Saliao overheard Unsay tell his dad over speakerphone "it's all over now, they've all been killed", to which Andal Snr was "all smiles", he said.
Andal Ampatuan Snr pictured in 2010, five years before his death. Photo: AFP alt=Andal Ampatuan Snr pictured in 2010, five years before his death. Photo: AFP
Saliao became a witness for the prosecution after his loyalties to the family were questioned by Bai Ameerah, Unsay's domineering sister, and after two intermediaries asked him to help frame Mangudadatu in a fresh murder.
Bai Ameerah rejected Saliao's assertions in court, calling him a liar and a thief who revelled in sowing intrigue.
But his testimony was buttressed by that of two other witnesses: Armed Forces Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, then-spokesman for the army's Eastern Mindanao Command, who described Saliao as a "trusted aide" of Andal Snr, acting as his gatekeeper while the older man was undergoing treatment in a military hospital; and the former commander of the governor's private army, Sukarno Badal, who confirmed that Saliao was a part of "every transaction" that Andal Snr made.
The yellow backhoe
When the military arrived at the scene of the massacre at 1:30 PM on November 23, 2009 an abandoned yellow Komatsu backhoe completed the macabre scene of twisted bodies and crushed cars.
It had the markings, "Acquired under the administration of Datu [chief] Andal S. Ampatuan, Snr, Governor, and Provincial Council."
Activists call for justice in the Maguindanao massacre case during a protest outside the trial venue last week. Photo: EPA alt=Activists call for justice in the Maguindanao massacre case during a protest outside the trial venue last week. Photo: EPA
Efren Macanas, a backhoe operator employed by the province, testified he had brought the machine to the site but walked away when he heard gunfire, because he did not want to bury dead bodies for the Ampatuans again.
He claimed he had done so before in 2005 and 2008, and decided to come forward because his signature was on the receipt for the backhoe.
Fellow operator Bong Andal, who buried the bodies and cars using a spare key for the backhoe in Macanas' absence, testified that he did so because he feared for his life. Those who disobeyed the Ampatuans "were either scolded excessively, tortured or even killed", he told the judge, who jailed him for up to 10 years for acting as an accessory to murder.
The text messages
The third key piece of evidence that contributed to the judge's verdict was the texts and call records from the day of the massacre.
These included a phone call to Mangudadatu from his wife Genalin at 10:18am saying "there are many armed men here. Unsay has arrived. He slapped me," before the line went dead.
Esmael Mangudadatu (front row, third from right) (3-R) and other relatives of the victims celebrate the verdict last week. Photo: EPA alt=Esmael Mangudadatu (front row, third from right) (3-R) and other relatives of the victims celebrate the verdict last week. Photo: EPA
Then at around 10:30am, lawyer Arnold Oclarit received a text message from his associate, Cynthia Oquendo, who told him in a frantic mixture of English and Visayan that she had been kidnapped, along with her dad and several others, and that she thought those responsible were from the Ampatuan clan. "We might get killed; they are firing. Please send to Tom," she wrote, referring to Tomas Falgui II, who had acted as legal representative for the Ampatuans in the past.
The next message was more ominous, "Daghan patay [many are dead], they are shooting, please Tom."
Falgui took to the witness box during the trial to confirm that Oclarit had relayed Oquendo's messages to him, and that he had tried to contact his former clients without success.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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