MANILA – Government security forces reported they seized on Friday a cache of ammunition intended only for use by soldiers and policemen from the mansion of the suspected mastermind in the November 23 massacre of 57 people in the capital town of Maguindanao province.
Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner, the spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), said the boxes of ammunition were confiscated from the palatial residence of Mayor Andal Ampatuan Junior in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao during a raid undertaken by a combined team of soldiers and policemen.
The raiders, Brawner said, were armed with four search warrants issued by the Regional Trial Court of Kidapawan City in the neighboring province of Cotabato.
According to Brawner, policemen and soldiers raided the compound of the Ampatuans in a determined attempt to find the weapons used in the massacre as well as the arms and ammunition used by the clan for their “private army.â€
The raid came a day after military forces announced their recovery of high-powered weapons which were buried in a vacant lot about 500 meters away from a mansion owned by Zaldy Ampatuan, the governor of the Autonomous Region in Mulsim Mindanao (ARMM) composed of the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sultan Kudarat, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Marawi City.
Mayor Ampatuan and Zaldy are the sons of the clan patriarch, Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan, who are implicated in the massacre.
Brawner said the military expects to find more weapons from the site, adding that those earlier seized consisted of light and heavy artillery weapons, such as 60mm and 80mm mortars, as well as handguns, machineguns, assault rifles and even military uniforms.
Meanwhile, Brawner, citing reports from the raiders, said the boxes of ammunition recovered from the mansion of Mayor Ampatuan bore printed markings which said, “Government Arsenal DND (Department of National Defense)†and “Philippine National Police Camp Crame,†referring to the PNP national headquarters in suburban Quezon City, Metro Manila.
He said the ammunition cache was manufactured by Armscor located in Bataan province in Central Luzon, which is to supply this to the military and the police only upon authorization by the government.
How the cache found its way to the mansion of Mayor Ampatuan remains mystery which is to be investigated by the military, Brawner said.
But, at the same time, Brawner also admitted that the ammunition could have been sold to the Ampatuans by unscrupulous military officers and men assigned to Mindanao.
“Definitely, heads will roll in connection with this case,†Brawner stressed, adding a full-dress investigation is already underway. He also admitted the military has received reports of government weapons and ammunition being delivered to Mindanao warlords and even members of rebel groups for “a fee†amounting to millions of the Philippine peso currency.
For his part, the PNP spokesman said they would file additional criminal charges against Mayor Ampatuan in connection with the seizure of the ammunition cache from his mansion.
Earlier, government prosecutors filed before the Regional Trial Court in Cotabato City charges of murder on 25 counts against Mayor Ampatuan who allegedly masterminded the November 23 massacre of 57 people in a hilly area in the town of Ampatuan.
Among the victims were the wife of Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu of Buluan town in Maguindanao, his two sisters and 30 journalists, who were in a convoy consisting of five vehicles on their way to Shariff Aguak.
Mangudadatu, the scion of a rival clan, told the police he had asked his wife Genalyn, his two sisters as well as two women lawyers and the 30 journalists to file his certificate of candidacy for governor of Maguindanao at the Commission on Elections provincial office Shariff Aguak.
In a related development, lawyers of the Ampatuans told GMA News, belonging to a Metro Manila-based radio and TV network, that the Court of Appeals has granted their petition to grant a writ of amparo to their clients.
The lawyers said the issuance of the writ lifted the restrictions imposed by the military and the police and would allow the Ampatuans to travel freely in Maguindanao.
The Ampatuans have complained that the deployment of soldiers in their palatial houses located in a compound in Shariff Aguak was tantamount to illegal detention because it restricted their movements although no charges have yet been filed against them in connection with the massacre.
The writ of amparo (a Spanish word meaning protection) is a legal remedy made available by the Supreme Court to any individual whose right to life, liberty and security is being threatened by other individuals or groups.
According to the High Court, the writ has been intended mainly to minimize the extra-judicial killings and mysterious disappearances of militants, anti-government protesters as well as journalists and members of the clergy allegedly being perpetrated by government or rebel forces.
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