Mangudadatu brothers to take the stand

MANILA, Philippines—Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu and his younger brother are scheduled to be recalled to the witness stand for the continuation of the Maguindanao massacre trial.

State Prosecutor Archimedes Manabat has asked Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Clerk Jimmy Cardines to subpoena the governor and his brother, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) assemblyman Khadafeh Mangudadatu, to the hearings on Wednesday and Thursday.

Lawyer Harry Roque, who represents some of the families of the massacre victims, said the ARMM assemblyman is expected to identify the 58th victim of the Maguindanao massacre, Reynaldo Momay.

Momay, a photojournalist for the weekly community paper Midland Review, was officially recognized last year by the court as a victim of the 2009 Maguindanao massacre although his body was never recovered from the crime scene at Barangay (village) Salman in Ampatuan town.

State prosecutors had ruled that his dentures and the testimonies of witnesses of his presence in the Mangudadatu clan convoy were sufficient to establish his inclusion as the 58th victim of the slaughter.

Witnesses had attested that Momay was among the media men who accompanied Genalyn Mangudadatu, wife of then Buluan town Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, to Shariff Aguak town to file his certificate of candidacy for governor on Nov. 23, 2009.

The convoy of Mangudadatu relatives, lawyers and media men was intercepted and all of them were shot to death and buried with their vehicles.—Jeannette I. Andrade