MANILA, Philippines?Former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and other Malacañang officials knew of the violent nature of the Ampatuans but failed to stop them from bullying their political rivals in Maguindanao.

This was part of the tearful testimony of Vice Mayor Esmael ?Toto? Mangudadatu of Buluan, Maguindanao, at the resumption Wednesday of the hearing for the bail petition of Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., the principal suspect in the Nov. 23 massacre of 57 people in the province.

Mangudadatu, 41, lost his wife, two sisters and an aunt in the bloodbath that also left at least 30 journalists and media workers dead.

Clad in a black coat over a light blue shirt, the widower kissed a copy of the Qur?an before and after testifying.

He told the court of Judge Jocelyn Solis Reyes that Palace officials had tried to dissuade him from challenging Ampatuan Jr. in the race for governor in the May elections.

This was how Mangudadatu recounted the turn of events:

Teodoro, the standard-bearer of the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD, called Mangudadatu to a meeting at Café Adriatico in Malate, Manila, on Oct. 10 to discuss his planned run for governor.

Teodoro asked him if he was determined to face Ampatuan Jr. When he said yes, the then defense secretary warned him against doing so.

?Don?t. I care for you a lot, Toto. You know those people are prone to violence,? Teodoro said in Filipino.

Weeks before the massacre, former Rep. Prospero Pichay, also of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD, told Mangudadatu to be careful: ?Mag-ingat ka, Toto. Violent ang mga taong ?yan.?

2 meetings

In his one-and-a-half-hour testimony, Mangudadatu said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?s chief political adviser, Gabriel Claudio, brokered two ?reconciliatory meetings? on July 20 and Aug. 11 between the Mangudadatus and the Ampatuans.

In those meetings, Andal Ampatuan Sr. strongly demanded that he declare that he would not contest Ampatuan Jr.?s gubernatorial run, Mangudadatu said.

?I just told him that there was a clamor from my constituents for me to run for governor,? he said.

Mangudadatu related a number of violent incidents that occurred in his family?s turf in Maguindanao months before the massacre.

He said he sought the help of Ms Arroyo when government forces seized the firearms of the entire police force of Pandag town, where his brother was the mayor, on July 8, 2009.

During direct examination by State Prosecutor Leo Dacera, Mangudadatu claimed that Ampatuan Sr. ordered the disarmament after he refused to accede to the demand that he drop his planned run for governor.

He said that on July 9, 2009, he and his cousin, Sultan Kudarat Gov. Suharto Mangudadatu, went to Guagua, Pampanga, to personally bring his concern to Ms Arroyo.

?The President called [Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Victor] Ibrado and instructed him to order the military in Maguindanao to give back the firearms of the Pandag police,? he said, adding:

?The President said we are not allies of [Moro rebel leader] Umbra Kato and that the Mangudadatus are law-abiding people.?

He added that Chief Insp. Sukarno Dicay (the then acting police director of Maguindanao), Col. Medardo Geslani (chief of the 601st Infantry Brigade), and a certain Col. Nerona immediately returned the guns.

Past allies

Mangudadatu also testified that his family and the Ampatuans were political allies for over 10 years before their falling out in 2008.

He said his family decided to sever ties with the Ampatuans when the clan patriarch ordered the killing of one Datu Ipaw and seven of his men.

?That?s the time I decided to drift away from [them],? he said.

Dacera directed Mangudadatu to elaborate on the incident, but Andal Jr.?s lawyer Sigfrid Fortun protested, saying this was irrelevant to his client?s petition for bail.

Judge Reyes granted Fortun?s objection and instructed Dacera several times to rephrase his questions.

Fortun also succeeded in blocking questions of the prosecution regarding his client?s character.

Mangudadatu said the tension between the two clans started to brew when reports about his plan to join the 2007 gubernatorial race in Maguindanao spread in October 2006.

He said Ampatuan Sr., who was then preparing to seek a third and last term as governor, called him, his three brothers, his two sisters and their mother to a meeting.

Mangudadatu said Ampatuan Sr. promised to make him governor of Rajah Buayan, one of three proposed provinces that would be carved from Maguindanao province.

But Ampatuan Sr.?s plan to create the new provinces fizzled out for failure to satisfy legal requirements, he said.

Mangled body

Mangudadatu became emotional when Dacera asked him about other events that led to the massacre.

He occasionally sipped from a water bottle and bowed his head.

He broke into tears when Dacera directed him to identify the photographs of the mangled body of his wife Bai Genalyn.

?Our family decided to send my wife, my sisters, my aunt and my media friends to file my certificate of candidacy [on Nov. 23] because Islam teaches us to treat women with respect,? he said.

Mangudadatu also said he was able to talk to his wife by phone moments before she and other members of the convoy were shot dead.

To back that claim, the court subpoenaed telecommunications firms Globe and Smart to provide copies of the call records of Mangudadatu and his slain wife?s mobile phones.

Judge Reyes set Mangudadatu?s cross-examination on Feb. 3, after Fortun asked for time to review the documentary evidence that the prosecutors presented.

In on the plan

In another testimony, witness Mohamad Sangki said a confidante of Ampatuan Sr. was heard boasting that ?high officials in Manila? were aware of the plan to block the filing of Mangudadatu?s certificate of candidacy for Maguindanao governor at all costs.

Sangki, a member of Datu Abdullah Sangki town?s local board in Sultan Kudarat, said Norodin Datumanong Ampatuan told him late in the afternoon of Nov. 20 that he and Ampatuan Sr. just got back from ?a party convention? held at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

?We just got back from Manila. After the party convention, [the governor] met with high officials there,? Sangki quoted Norodin, whom he described as ?close to Ampatuan Sr.,? as saying.

?All of them support the old man?s plan. That?s all I can tell you,? Norodin reportedly added in Filipino.

Sangki said Norodin also told him that Norie Unas, provincial administrator of Maguindanao, and Datu Saudi Ampatuan, then acting governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, were with Ampatuan Sr. on that trip.

Sangki said he received a phone call from Datu Bahnarin Ampatuan, mayor of Mamasapano town in Maguindanao, on Nov. 19 asking that he gather 30 members of the police auxiliary from his town in Sultan Kudarat.

He quoted Bahnarin as saying: ?Uncle Say (Ampatuan Jr.) said the old man wants everyone to deploy 30 men from their police auxiliary.?

Sangki said Bahnarin also ordered him to proceed to Crossing Saniag in Maguindanao, where the Mangudadatu convoy was waylaid.

He went on to narrate a long recollection of events until the fateful day of Nov. 23.

5 criminal cases

During cross-examination, defense lawyer Fortun linked Sangki to five criminal cases in an apparent effort to undermine his credibility.

Fortun said Sangki was indicted for the murders of another local board official and at least six other people, including a baby boy.

He also raised suspicion that Sangki?s affidavit was ?prepared only last week? instead of on Dec. 24, 2009, as stated.

Fortun said he believed the affidavit was based on the testimony of the witness? nephew, Vice Mayor Rasul Sangki, at the second hearing of Ampatuan Jr.?s bail petition on Jan. 13.

The defense lawyer also grilled the witness over his decision not to tell authorities about what he knew of the purported plan of Ampatuan Jr. and Sr. against the Mangudadatu convoy.

?You said you did not approach [the authorities before or after the massacre] and only made these disclosures in your Dec. 24 affidavit,? Fortun said.

?Yes, sir,? Sangki said.

?Your affidavit said this was because your conscience was bothering you,? the lawyer said.

?Yes, sir,? the witness said.

?You could no longer stomach or fathom the killings??

?No, sir.?

?You do not believe in violence??

?No, sir.?

?You are a peace-loving citizen??

Whether Sangki managed to answer the last question was unclear. But it was at this point that Fortun raised the witness? indictment in the murders.

Credibility

Senior State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon strongly objected to Fortun?s questioning. But the latter shrugged off the protest and went on.

Addressing Judge Reyes, Fortun said he was merely checking Sangki?s credibility because the witness claimed to be a peace-loving person despite supposed evidence to the contrary.