Maguindanao massacre ‘carefully planned’ — witness 09/09/2010

Maguindanao massacre ‘carefully planned’ — witnesshttp://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100909hed2.html
09/09/2010
The Ampatuans carefully planned and carried out the killings of 57 persons — including 32 journalists — in the country’s worst massacre, a witness yesterday said as the landmark trial began.

The testimony of Lakmodin Saliao, an Ampatuan househelp, directly linked former Datu Unsay town Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., the main defendant, to the planning and execution of the killings in the clan’s former fiefdom of Maguindanao, an impoverished province in Mindanao.

Saliao told Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes that he was present at the meeting where Ampatuan Jr. broached the “idea of killing Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu and everyone in his party when the latter files his certificate of candidacy as governor of Maguindanao in the May 10, 2010 automated elections.”

Saliao, the first witness presented by the prosecution during the trial, said the meeting was held at the mansion of former Maguindanao Gov. Andal.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100909hed2.html