SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao, Philippines—Police said some suspects in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre are hiding in areas controlled by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Senior Supt. Marcelo Pintac, Maguindanao police chief, told the INQUIRER that Kanor Ampatuan, a principal suspect in the massacre, was hiding in the town of Rajah Buayan along with members of the MILF.
The MILF Central Committee had said it has a strict directive to their field commanders not to coddle any member of the Ampatuan clan and militiamen involved in massacre.
Pintac said another fugitive, Bahnarin Ampatuan, a grandson of detained clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr., who has P300,000 bounty on his head is hiding in the town of Mamasapano along with 200 fully armed followers.
“We are finding (it) hard to capture them because they are in areas controlled by the MILF. Our cops are not familiar with the terrain leading to their locations,” he said.
Pintac said around 101 massacre suspects remain at large and some of them have joined the group of Ameril Umra Kato, a former MILF commander of 105th Base who now leads a breakaway force of 200 to 300 fighters.
He said a total of 94 suspects in the massacre have been arrested.
“We will not stop our manhunt against them,” said Pintac, who has 22 cases of administrative protest filed against him by the Ampatuans.
Pintac said they recently stormed one of the hideouts of Bahnarin in the village Paitan in Datu Piang town but the suspect, along with his followers, managed to escape before the raiding team arrived.
“Those policemen not involved in the massacre but were relieved and transferred to other areas are now back to the province. There are no bad cops. They are just following orders from their superiors,” Pintac said.
Several policemen, soldiers, civilian volunteers and Ampatuan clan members have been accused of involvement in the gruesome killing that claimed the lives of at least 57 people, mostly media workers, in Ampatuan town on Nov. 23, 2009.
The victims were on their way to Shariff Aguak to file the certificate of candidacy of then Buluan town vice mayor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu when their convoy was blocked by armed men allegedly led by Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr.