3,000 rally vs new massacre charges seen to prolong case delay

PROTESTERS claim the new charges filed against 50 people in connection with the Maguindanao massacre case would just prolong the delay in the resolution of the case. NASH MAULANA/INQUIRER MINDANAO

COTABATO CITY—At least 3,000 residents of Maguindanao province and this city held what organizers said was an indignation rally protesting the filing of charges against 50 more people, including a teacher and a mechanic, in connection with the 2009 Maguindanao massacre.

Public school teacher Hasim Ishmael said he could not understand why he ended up being one of the 50 new respondents in the new charges.

Speaking at the rally, Ishmael said he was just a “nobody” who spent most of his time in the classroom.

Ishmael asked his audience if they believed a teacher like him would be involved in the massacre and the crowd responded with a loud “no.”

Hadji Ali Midtimbang, one of the 50 respondents, also swore before the Koran and asked the crowd if they believed he was part of the crime.

“No,” came the answer from the crowd. Midtimbang ran for vice governor of Maguindanao in 2013 but lost.

Midtimbang said many of those killed were close to him.

“If only the government had an island to keep innocent people in custody and where we could farm, I would rather leave the hell that is Maguindanao,” he said, his voice cracking.

Midtimbang’s elder brother, Datu Anggal town Mayor Datu Antao Midtimbang, said he and his siblings had always condemned the massacre.

“I was among the first to send messages of condolences to the families of the victims, including the media persons that were killed there,” the mayor said, swearing before the Koran that his brother was not involved in the carnage.

“I wish they will only speak about the truth,” he said of the new witnesses—former Mayor Akmad Ampatuan of Salibo town and ex-Vice Mayor Sukarno Badal of Sultan Sa Barongis, who were henchmen of principal accused Andal Ampatuan Sr.

Another respondent in the new complaint, lawyer Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, the city administrator, also swore before the Koran and challenged Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu to do the same.

Sayadi had accused Mangudadatu of orchestrating the filing of the new charges.

Guiani said the new charges would just slow down the trial of the massacre case, if not ruin it altogether.

Clutching a Koran, (the Muslim holy book), Mayor Zamzamin Ampatuan, of Rajah Buayan town, also swore before the protesters that his brothers Hadji Yakub, a barangay captain, and Khudzbari, a mechanic, are not involved in the massacre.

Yamin is a way of reconciliation familiar in peace settlement forums among Muslim families locked in conflicts.

Mangudadatu, however, said he is not involved in any way in the filing of the new cases. He said his political rivals tried the same tactic in the past but failed.

“It’s the prosecution’s new witnesses, who named them as suspects, not us,” said the governor.

On the challenge to take yamin (swearing before the Koran), Mangudadatu said he wanted it done in one of Islam’s holiest shrines, the Kaaba in Mecca. Reports from Nash Maulana, Allan Nawal and Charlie Señase, Inquirer Mindanao