Suspect turned state witness testifies; another arraigned

CMFR/Philippines – One of the 196 accused in the Ampatuan Massacre was arraigned on 27 March 2014, more than four years after the trial of the other accused perpetrators began in January 2010. Eighty-six more suspects remain at large.

Suspect Dexon Saptula pled not guilty on Thursday to 58 counts of murder and conspiracy before the Branch 221 of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court at the Quezon City Jail Annex in Camp Bagong Diwa, a police enclosure in Taguig City, Manila.

On 23 November 2009, 58 people were killed in a single incident of election-related violence in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao province; 32 were journalists and media workers.

Saptula was a member of the Ampatuan clan’s private army. He was arrested on 9 November 2013 in Datu Abdullah Sangki town, Maguindanao.

This was after a man named Rene Matuti was mistakenly arrested and arraigned as Saptula in March 2013. The court discharged Matuti on 6 February 2014.

One hundred ninety-eight (198) Ampatuan clan members, police officers and private army members were originally named as accused. But one police officer, Johann Draper, was discharged for lack of probable cause and another, Hernanie Decipulo, allegedly committed suicide while in prison. Only 110 have been arrested so far.

In the same hearing as Saptula’s arraignment, suspect turned state witness Esmael Canapia testified against those accused who were arraigned after 24 January 2010.

Canapia, who was also a member of the Ampatuan clan’s private army, identified suspects Bong Andal, confessed backhoe operator, and Datu Teng Ibrahim. He described both as having firearms when he saw them on 23 November 2009 after the massacre.

The Court granted the public prosecutors’ motion to exclude Canapia from the charges and to make him a state witness on 21 February 2014. Canapia testified for the prosecution panel several times during the bail petition hearings.