Ampatuan Trial Update: Diongon tells the stories behind his five affidavits
“Bawat affidavit ay may istorya (Every affidavit has a story behind it).”
A Police Inspector who was among those manning the checkpoint that stopped the Manugdadatu convoy of 58 people admitted that he fabricated some of the details of his first affidavit. Rex Diongon, whom the prosecution wants to be a state witness in the ongoing trial of 197 people accused of planning and carrying out the Nov. 23, 2009 Ampatuan Massacre, said  he changed his first statement and ended up submitting five affidavits on the Ampatuan Massacre.
The Nov. 3 hearing at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City focused on the prosecution’s petition to discharge Diongon as an accused and to instead become a state witness in the trial of those accused of killing 58 people, including 32 journalists.
Diongon admitted that his first affidavit contained fabricated details, and was done to cover up the real intent behind the incident.
Executed before the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Office in Cotabato City on Nov. 25, the affidavit said that Diongon and his subordinates set up a checkpoint at Sitio Malating, Ampatuan town, to respond to a bomb threat, not to waylay the convoy of the relatives of then-gubernatorial candidate Esmael Mangudadatu and the journalists and media workers accompanying them.
Diongon said the affidavit was drafted by Police Sr. Supt. Abusama Maguid in the house of Sajid Ampatuan, at that time OIC governor of Maguindanao province.
He said he supplied accurate details in his second affidavit, which was filed at Philippine National Police General Headquarters (Camp Crame) in Quezon City. But it was incomplete because he was prevented from saying everything since Maguindanao Provincial Director Police Chief Inspector Sukarno Dikay, another accused, was with him.
Diongon’s third affidavit, filed on Dec. 5, was a supplemental affidavit containing the names of the 15 police officers present at the checkpoint at Sitio Malating on Nov. 23.
The fourth—another supplemental affidavit filed at the Department of Justice on Jan. 12—contained what happened before and during the massacre based on his personal knowledge. The affidavit also mentioned a meeting on Nov. 19, where former Datu Unsay town mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. reportedly asked if Diongon was willing to have the Mangudadatus killed.
Diongon, head of the 1508th Provincial Mobile Group when the massacre happened, reiterated that he replied “yes” to Ampatuan Jr. because the Ampatuans “ay maimpluwensya, mapera, (at) kayang gawin lahat ng masama sa akin [are influential, moneyed, (and therefore) can  harm on me.”
The fifth, also a supplemental affidavit filed on Jan. 25, expressed his not wanting to go back to the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PRO-ARMM) because “I  already told the truth in the fourth affidavit. When the Ampatuans learn that I did so, I am sure they will do something against me.”
Defense lawyer Sigfrid Fortun had questioned Diongon’s motives in changing his statements.
During cross examination, Fortun asked Diongon why some events connected to the massacre were only in the later affidavits. He went on to conclude that Diongon added those details and ended up “execut[ing] five affidavits…to dovetail (his account) with the prosecution’s theory…because [Diongon] actually want[ed] to be acquitted.”
Diongon denied the claim.
Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists Private Prosecutor Prima Quinsayas told the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility that it was the prosecution, not Diongon himself, who sought the latter’s conversion into a state witness against the accused in the Ampatuan massacre.
Rule 119, Sec. 19 of the Rules of Court states that an accused can be acquitted when the Court approves of his discharge as an accused and becomes a state witness. While any witness can testify without an affidavit, legal procedures require the prosecution to submit affidavit(s) in a petition for changing an accused’s status to that of a state witness.
Quinsayas added that the Prosecution believes that parts of Diongon’s testimony can help throw further light on the conspiracy behind the massacre, which will mark its first year on Nov. 23.
The Prosecution has also sought the discharge of another accused, Mohamad Sangki. The prosecution adopted Sangki’s previous testimony when he took the witness stand on January 27, 2010, and revealed,  among others, the following:
-His whereabouts on Nov. 21, 22 and 23;
-What transpirsed during his conversation with Ampatuan Jr. on Nov. 20; and
-Ampatuan Jr’s order to deploy police auxiliaries in Ampatuan town, as early as Nov. 19, as part of the plan to ambush those who would be filing the Certificate of Candidacy of Mangudadatu.
Sangki was arraigned last July 28.
Judge Jocelyn Solis Reyes has yet to decide on  the motion for bail filed by the Defense for Ampatuan Jr. The motion, for the 57th case for the murder, that of UNTV’s Victor Nuñez, was filed last September. The bail petition for the first 56 cases is also still in abeyance pending the resolution of the Sixth Recusation motion filed by accused Ampatuan Jr. against Reyes.
The next hearing has been set for Nov. 10, during which two other accused the prosecution wants to turn into state witnesses — Police Inspector Michael Joy Macaraeg and PO1 Rainer Ebusare — are expected to be presented.
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