Backhoe driver’s transfer ordered

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

A Quezon City judge on Tuesday ordered the immediate transfer from Cotabato City to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City of the backhoe operator, the alleged gravedigger in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre who was arrested on Saturday.

Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes directed the warden of the Quezon City Jail annex in the police camp to take custody of Bong Andal, who is currently being held at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao office in Cotabato City.

Andal, an employee of the Maguindanao provincial government, was arrested in Midsayap, North Cotabato, in an entrapment operation by the region’s police and the Army’s 40th Infantry Battalion.

He is the 100th of the 195 accused to be arrested for the Nov. 23, 2009, massacre of 58 persons, including 32 members of the media.

The backhoe Andal operated was found in Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman, Ampatuan town. It was apparently used to dig the graves and bury the victims and their vehicles.

Judge Reyes has yet to schedule Andal’s arraignment.