SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao - The grassy hill of Barangay Salman in nearby Ampatuan town continued to give up corpses.

A total of 64 cadavers have been retrieved since Monday’s mass murder, which was allegedly carried out by a group headed by Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., a ranking police officer said yesterday.

Chief Insp. Roger Zagales, of the police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Central Mindanao, who was helping in the gathering of evidence, did not say when the additional bodies were dug up.

But he told the Inquirer that the sheer number of victims proved that “those responsible for it were out of their minds.”

“I have never seen in my life killings as gruesome as this,” Zagales said.

Nurodin Mamaluba, Cabinet secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said the massacre had affected regional Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan so much that he was losing his appetite for food.

“As a father and a brother I would certainly not want that to happen to my family, my sisters,” Mamaluba quoted the ARMM governor as saying when he learned of the killings, which were allegedly perpetrated by his brother, Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr.

Director Felizardo Serapio of the Western Mindanao’s Directorate for Integrated Police Operations (Dipo), said the police were continuing to gather evidence that could point to the identities of the killers.

Serapio said while the investigation was going on, more than 400 members of the Regional Mobile Group were being deployed in Maguindanao, alongside with the Army, to help ease the tension.

Will justice be done?

In Davao City, despite the arrest of Andal Jr., the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said the government must do more to ensure that the victims of the slaughter were given justice.

“The public knowledge that the government is very much indebted to the powers-that-be in Maguindanao makes us question whether justice will indeed be served,” the NUJP said in a statement.

“But maybe, we are asking too much. After all, we have seen the inutility of this government against media killings. We have seen the impunity it tries to tolerate, given its record in breeding warlords under ... political patronage,” the group added.

Unclaimed bodies

In Koronadal City, two male bodies have yet to be identified at a funeral home.

Leah Collado, of the Southern Funeral Home said, the two bloated bodies bore bullet wounds in the face and nobody had come forward to claim them.

The funeral parlor has serviced 11 victims of the mass murder.

“We’re calling on families who have missing [members] to see the bodies here,” she said.

The two bodies have been autopsied.

One body, 3 claimants

In a week or two, if still unclaimed, the bodies will be placed at the disposal of the social welfare department.

Three families are claiming the cadaver of another male victim.

Among them was the Cachuela family, which said the body they saw was that of Hannibal, one of the journalists slain in the carnage.

“It’s been four days since we presented proofs that the body is that of my brother but we can’t take him home yet because of these disputes. I haven’t had a good sleep,” said Allan Cachuela, a brother of the journalist.

Hannibal, 51, served as the Maguindanao bureau chief for Punto, a daily newspaper based in General Santos.

“I’m very positive about the identifying marks of Bal,” Allan said.

Dental records

Floresa Subere, manager of Subere Funeral Homes, said the families of UNTV reporter Victor Nuñez and Midland Review reporter Reynaldo Momay were also claiming the body.

She said the Nuñez and Momay families were gathering dental and fingerprint records of their slain loved ones to support their respective claims.

“I’ve scoured all the funeral homes here to [look] for my brother. Now that I’ve found him, someone would just want to take him away from us. The murders were horrible, now they’ll make it more complicated,” Allan said.

Cachuela’s friends have also identified the body as that of Hannibal based on its watch and shirt when it was retrieved in Ampatuan.

“I should know. When Bal was still alive, he told me: Look at my watch, I just bought it for a hundred bucks. It all depends on who wears it,” Nida Yap said.