MANILA, Philippines – State prosecutors have found sufficient evidence to recommend the filing of murder charges against Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. in connection with the killing of seven of at least 64 persons killed in Maguindanao.

“He was giving instructions, he was there when the convoy was blocked, and he was among those who took part in the killings,” Acting Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera said of the prosecutors’ findings on Ampatuan’s involvement in the worst election-related violence in the country.

Devanadera told reporters that the prosecutors were to have filed the seven counts of murder against Ampatuan Friday in Cotabato City but could not do so because of the Eid Al’adha holiday which extends to Monday.

“The courts were closed,” she said in a late afternoon news conference at the Department of Justice.

Devanadera said the affidavits of Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu and certain eyewitnesses established Ampatuan’s presence and participation in the mass murder.

“Why do I say they are eyewitnesses? It’s because they are among those who participated in the killings,” she said.

Devanadera said the DOJ would continue to detain Ampatuan despite the lapse of the allowable 36-hour period without the filing of formal charges. She said it was not because of DOJ negligence that the charges were not filed.

More arrests possible

Presidential Adviser on Mindanao Affairs Jesus Dureza said other members of the Ampatuan clan would be arrested if the evidence being gathered and assessed by investigators pointed to their involvement in the mass murder.

“Whatever the evidence will produce in terms of who are still responsible, then anybody will be taken in,” Dureza told reporters at Camp Aguinaldo.

“Whoever will be at the receiving end, whether it is [Maguindanao Gov. Andal] Ampatuan Sr. or [anybody else], the law will not choose... The evidence adduced will determine who is responsible,” Dureza said.

When asked whether the Ampatuans had guaranteed the government that they would yield to arresting officers, he said Ampatuan Sr. had vowed to “cooperate.”

Devanadera also said state prosecutors and National Bureau of Investigation agents continued to process the cases of 50 other victims for the filing of appropriate charges.

She answered in the affirmative when asked if other members of the Ampatuan clan were now being considered “suspects.”

“We are still in the hot pursuit stage,” Devanadera said. She said the other Ampatuans involved could be arrested without a warrant, as was done in the case of the Datu Unsay mayor.

Under surveillance

The Bureau of Immigration has put Ampatuan and eight other members of his family on its watchlist.

The eight others ordered listed were Ampatuan Sr., Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan, Nords Ampatuan, Akmad Ampatuan Sr., Akmad Ampatuan Jr., Saudi Ampatuan Jr., Bahnarian Ampatuan, and Sajid Islam Ampatuan.

The names of the nine Ampatuans will stay on the watchlist for 60 days unless sooner terminated or extended.

“The statements that we have gathered point their involvement,” Devanadera said. “They are under investigation. They are under surveillance.”

Asked if the others could be charged along with Ampatuan on Tuesday, she said: “If we finish [the investigation] by then.”

Devanadera indicated that aside from Ampatuan, police officers were also among those at the site when the killings occurred.

“They are among those who had direct participation,” she said. “The reason it took some time for us to process the case against the policemen was we couldn’t establish their identities.”

20 witnesses

Devanadera said the DOJ now had more than 20 witnesses and had processed 17 sworn statements.

One of these statements is that of Vice Mayor Mangudadatu.

“He was able to talk to his wife. She told him, ‘Mayor [Ampatuan] is here,’ and that Ampatuan slapped her,” Devanadera said.

The other witnesses said there were more than 100 who participated in the “carnage,” she said.

Devanadera said that with the arrest of Ampatuan, many more witnesses were sending text messages to government agents signifying intention to testify on what they knew.

She also confirmed the remarks of the witness interviewed by the Al-Jazeera network, who named Ampatuan as the one who had ordered the killing of every person in the Mangudadatu convoy—women, children and members of the media.

“His narration of the facts is consistent with the statements that we have,” Devanadera said.

She said she just could not confirm if the Al-Jazeera witness was one of the DOJ’s own because his face was covered for security purposes.

Ampatuan shocked

Dureza said he met with the other Ampatuans after a dialogue with the Mangudadatus following the Monday massacre.

“The old man said they will cooperate, which is the reason why the following day, on Thursday, I was able to peacefully bring into custody Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr.,” he said.

But a strafing incident caused him and the mayor a few tense moments during the chopper ride from the capitol grounds in Maguindanao to General Santos City, Dureza said.

He recalled that somebody from the ground was shooting at them, which prompted the helicopter gunners to fire back.

“He (Ampatuan) was shocked. I too got nervous,” Dureza said.

The mayor was taken to the NBI jail after being flown from General Santos, where an inquest was conducted, to Manila on Thursday night.

Dureza visited Camp Aguinaldo Friday to meet with Acting Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales, who had appointed him head of the crisis management committee handling the situation in Maguindanao.

He was then en route to the airport. He said he was flying back to Maguindanao to look into the assistance that the government could provide the grieving families of those killed.

“The Muslim victims have already been buried but [not the] members of the media, so we would like to see how they are being attended to,” Dureza said.

As many as 27 journalists were among those killed.

Atmosphere of fear

Dureza also said the crisis management committee was still working to ease the “atmosphere of fear” in Maguindanao.

He said the government would do what was necessary to ensure the safety of witnesses.

“We hope that the other witnesses would come to us to testify... It will be a travesty of justice if the case will not stand just because no witnesses came out because of fear,” he said.