Husband of slain lawyer testifies at Ampatuan trial

Slain lawyer Cynthia Oquendo was “in the pinkest of health” and even used to go jogging with him when her life was brutally cut short on Nov. 23, 2009, her husband, Dennis Ayon, told the court hearing the Maguindanao massacre case Thursday.

Three years on, the couple’s three children still carried the loss in their hearts and no amount of reparation could assuage the family’s suffering, he added.

“My eldest child was even diagnosed with a learning disability late last year. My children miss her so much,” said Ayon, his voice breaking and tears flowing down his face.

Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch ordered a five-minute break to let the witness calm down.

Ayon took the witness stand as one of the private complainants in what has been called the Maguindanao massacre. His wife is one of the 57 people slaughtered two years ago in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao province.

Ayon, an engineer, said he had been married for seven years to Oquendo before her death.

Two relatives

Oquendo, then 35, was one of the lawyers who rode in a vehicle that together with others, formed a convoy on a mission to file Toto Mangundadatu’s candidacy papers. The convoy in fact headed for a massacre prosecutors said was masterminded by Mangundadatu’s political rival, the Ampatuans.

The family lost two members that day as Oquendo’s father, Catalino, was also among those killed.

As a wife, Oquendo was “very supportive” and even left her job in General Santos City so that she could be with her new husband, who was based in South Cotabato, Ayon said.

“Even if she was working, she was the one who would bathe our children, help them with their pajamas and read them stories,” he said.

State prosecutor Olivia Torrevillas conducted the direct examination of Ayon, asking him to describe their life as a couple.

Prior to the massacre, Ayon said, Oquendo told him that she would accompany the Mangundadatu convoy in filing the candidacy papers.

Oquendo left home on November 22 and on the morning of November 23, was even able to send seven text messages to him, Ayon said.

The last text message, which Ayon received at 9:24 a.m., read: “Ampatuan na, lapit na Shariff Aguak (We’re in Ampatuan, nearing Shariff Aguak).”

Ayon told the court that it was at 1:15 p.m. in November 23 that he received a message from a brother-in-law that his wife had been kidnapped. Later in the day, his mother-in-law informed him of his wife’s death.

The family was able to go to the massacre site only the following day. Oquendo’s brother, Senior Police Officer 3 Raymundo Oquendo, identified Cynthia and her father as among those killed.

Ayon recalled seeing his wife’s bloodied and badly damaged face. “I felt bad upon seeing her like that,” he said, his voice cracking.

Later on, he testified, he heard from people in the area that the Ampatuans were behind the killing, with Andal Ampatuan Jr. as the mastermind.

Oquendo’s remains were brought to Ayon’s home in South Cotabato, where the wake was held from November 27 to November 30.

Potential evidence

At the cross examination by defense lawyers in the afternoon, Ayon was asked  why he held on to his late wife’s cell phone instead of turning it over to authorities as it could be treated as evidence.

Ayon said that he once went to the offices of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and asked that the cell phone be opened but was told that the CIDG would do so but not in his presence.

Ayon said he had tried to check the phone’s contents as it was used by his wife to text him in her last hours. “There was a video there I think but it was unrelated to the massacre,” he told the court.

He added, in explaining why he held on to the cell phone, “At that time, we didn’t know who to trust.”

He said the cell phone was given to Ayon by the victim’s brother, Raymundo. At one point, Ayon said he turned it over to the victim’s sister, Gemma Oquendo.

“We turned it over to her because she was a lawyer and she would know what to do with it,” he said.

The prosecution plans to later present Raymundo Oquendo, the policeman, to provide more details about Cynthia Oquendo’s recovered cell phone.

The mother of another victim, reporter Marife Montano, also took the witness stand in the afternoon to give testimony about her judicial affidavit.

The mother, Maura Montano, 71, was asked questions regarding her participation as one of the private complainants in the case.

The hearing was adjourned early as the judge was feeling unwell.