Saying that they were of royal blood, a niece of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu on Thursday asked for at least P3 billion in damages for the gruesome killing of her mother in the Maguindanao massacre.
At the resumption of the trial in Quezon City, Bai Ayesha Vanessa Hajar D. Andamen, eldest daughter of Bai Eden Mangudadatu, said her mother’s death devastated their family and left her six young siblings under her care.
“It pained me and I wanted to cry… I could not believe it. I prayed that it wasn’t true,” Andamen recalled the moment she learned of her mother’s death.
“That should not have happened. Killing women is prohibited under our Muslim customs,” she said.
Eden Mangudadatu was one of seven Mangudadatu women killed in the massacre on Nov. 23, 2009, in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, which left a total of 57 dead and is considered the worst political killing in the country’s history.
The Mangudadatu women were on their way to Shariff Aguak to file Toto’s certificate of candidacy, thinking that they would not be harmed because hurting women in political disputes is looked down upon in Maguindanao.
Eden’s body was recovered riddled with 10 gunshot wounds.
“I wanted to cry but in our tradition, tears would only make it harder for the dead to ascend to heaven,” Andamen later told reporters.
Unlike the other victims’ relatives who had testified in court, the 24-year-old Mangudadatu scion did not cry when she took the witness stand yesterday to speak about her mother’s death.
“I didn’t want to give the Ampatuans the satisfaction of seeing me cry,” she said.
Last week Andamen called leading accused former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. a “dog” and made barking sounds as he was being led out of the courtroom.
Andamen said the P3 billion in damages she was seeking from the Ampatuans was justified because her family belonged to one of the Muslim royal clans.
“We belong to a royal family,” she said.
The honorific “bai” given to her and her mother was equivalent to “princess or queen” in the Maguindanao custom, she added.
After her mother died, the family spent P1 million for her kanduli (thanksgiving), or the Maguindanao traditional prayers and feasts, which lasted for 100 days, Andamen said.
She said that while her mother earned P20,000 a month as vice mayor of Mangudadatu town, she also owned a firm that traded in medical supplies, making P4 million a year from the business.
With her mother gone, Andamen said she now spends P200,000 a month for the housing, driver and bills of her siblings. She said her father, Nasser Dilangalen, works as an aide of Toto Mangudadatu.