Ampatuans had plotted massacre, servant testifies

Manila: A house servant working for a politically powerful family, who were accused of the massacre of 57 people last year, told a Philippine court on Wednesday that the family members plotted the killings six days before the ambush took place.

The witness, Lakmudin Saliao, took the stand on the first day of trial, nearly 10 months after the November 23 massacre in the southern Maguindanao province. Among the 57 dead were 30 journalists travelling in an election convoy, making it one of the deadliest single attacks on reporters in history.

Lakmudin Saliao, 33, the first witness at the start of the trial for the shocking election-related crime told how on November 17, 2009, Andal Ampatuan Junior, the ex-mayor of Datu Unsay in Maguindanao, told his father, in a meeting to plot against Esmael ‘Toto' Mangudadatu, the then vice-mayor of Buluan town, "It's an easy thing to do, Dad, let's kill them all when they arrive here."

The convoy was coming to file Toto's certificate of candidacy for the Ampatuan town. "We are all here today to discuss how we can stop Toto from filing his certificate of candidacy in Maguindanao," Saliao quoted Andal Ampatuan Senior as saying when he convened the meeting at the family's mansion in Maguidnanao. Do not entrust the road block to others. You yourself should stop them at the highway, near the place where a backhoe is conducting some diggings," Saliao quoted the incumbent governor of Maguindanao as telling his son.

During the meeting, relatives and supporters gave their approval of the plan, Saliao said, adding that he stood in front of Ampatuan Junior throughout and was therefore able to listen to the details of the conversation.

On November 23, Mangudadatu's wife and two sisters, as well as a number of lawyers, politicians, journalists and several bystanders, were killed in the massacre. Their bodies were later dumped in mass graves.

Mangudadatu went on to win the post of governor of Maguindanao in subsequent elections in May.

Heavily-armed police in plain clothes guarded Ampatuan Junior, who did not show any reaction to Saliao's testimony. He has denied a role in the killings.

Earlier, Ampatuan Junior's lawyers had tried to secure a 10-day postponement of the trial, but presiding Judge Jocelyn Reyes instead decided that it would be held in a special courtroom in a maximum-security jail in the southern suburban Bicutan. She delayed the trial for a week, leading to criticism.

"We can't afford more delays," said lawyer Harry Roque.

Senator Joker Arroyo has predicted the trail may go on for years.