MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) Police identified Friday the supposed operator of the backhoe found at the crime scene that was reportedly used to dig shallow graves for the more than 50 victims of the carnage in Maguindanao province.

Senior Superintendent Ericson Velasquez, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detective Division, identified the operator as Hanid Delayudin, who remains missing as of this time.

Based on their interview with Engineer Landap Gunaid, the provincial engineer of Maguindanao, Velasquez said Delayudin failed to report to work on Tuesday, a day after the killings.

Because of this, Delayudin, a regular employee at the provincial engineer’s office, is now considered a suspect, Devanadera said.

“He was the assigned operator of the backhoe for that day. He has a lot to explain. Malaki ang maitutulong niya kung lulutang siya at magpapaliwanag kung bakit andun ang backhoe niya [He will be a great help if he will surface to explain why his backhoe was there],” Velasquez told reporters.

Based on records of the Maguindanao provincial engineer’s office, the backhoe found at the crime scene has been issued out since November 4 for a project in the area and was supposed to be returned on November 20, a Friday. The killings happened on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police deployed more investigators and forensic experts to the crime scene to speed up the investigation.

In a statement, PNP Director General Jesus Verzosa said he has ordered the CIDG to deploy 24 investigators and 17 forensic examiners in Maguindanao.

Verzosa said forensic investigators were currently performing ballistics and macro-etching examinations on 429 firearms recovered from four deactivated paramilitary forces in the province.

These firearms consist of 101 units of M14 rifles, 303 units of M1 Garand rifles, 25 units of M1 Carbines and some 5,100 rounds of assorted ammunition recovered from deactivated civilian volunteer forces in the province.

At the same time, CIDG investigators are currently documenting 347 CAFGU members, collating their profile including photographs and fingerprints.

The four police officers, Velazquez clarified, were not considered suspects at this time.

The four are Senior Superintendent Agusana Maguid, Chief Inspector Sukarno Dicay, Senior Police Officer 2 Badawi Bakal, and Senior Inspector Ariel Diongon.

They are under the protective custody of the CIDG at Camp Crame, Quezon City.

Velasquez said the four have yet to issue formal statements.