Journalists Slain In Philippine Massacre Buried

December 4, 2009 12:02 p.m. EST

General Santos, Philippines (AHN) - Eight of the two dozen journalists killed in the deadliest election-related violence in the Philippines were laid to rest on Thursday. The mayor of a town in the southern province of Maguindanao has been accused of masterminding the murder of 57 people to thwart a political rival from succeeding his father as governor.

Hundreds of mourners joined the convoy of 60 vehicles that brought the eight victims and their relatives to Forest Lake Memorial Park, in the southern city of General Santos. The previous day, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo grieved with families at the Callado Funeral Homes amid a public outrage over her government's response to the tragedy.

Arroyo had said she attended the last day of the wake "as a modest expression of the nation's outrage and my [her] grief." She called the massacre "a black mark on our nation."

Lea Dalmacio and Ian Subang of SOCKSARGEN Today, Gina de la Cruz and Marife Montano of Saksi Mindanaoan News, Maritess Cabletas and Russel Morales of News Focus, Rubello Bataluna and Ronnie Perrante were buried side-by-side in the cemetery. The burial was held a day after the military found an arsenal of firearms and ammunitions in the home of the prime suspect.

Government forces on Thursday received a tip and dug a pit about 500 meters from a house of the family of Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. They found 260 boxes each containing 1,500 of ammunition, four M60 machine guns, two 90 millimeter recoilless rifles, a 57 millimeter recoilless rifle, one .50 caliber Barrett sniper rifle and an Ultimax rifle.

Authorities also found three 60 millimeter mortars, two 81 millimeter mortars, a bushmaster 5.56, two Browning Automatic rifles, one FAL rifle, an AK47, one HK11 and one 5.56 M4 rifle.

The arsenal was buried two days after the massacre, according to the tip authorities had received. Some of the boxes of ammunitions were marked with the name of the Defense Department, indicating that they may have been sold illegally by soldiers to the Ampatuan clan.

Part of a region that has seen centuries of strife between Muslims and Christians, Maguindanao is a province shaped by the rivalry of political clans. The power of the families includes control of the local police force, all of whom in the province will be replaced as part of the government's investigation. Officials have said there is sufficient evidence against four officers to charge them with participating in the killings.

Ampatuan is currently detained at the National Bureau of Investigation in Manila. His family members are currently at home in Sharrif Aguak, Maguindanao, barred by soldiers from leaving the residence. None of the eight members of his family considered also implicated have been arrested.

The Justice Department early this week filed 25 counts of murder against Ampatuan before the Cotabato City Regional Trial Court Branch 15. Prosecutors have at least 17 witnesses, including men who had worked for the Ampatuan's family, pointing to the mayor as the mastermind. A backhoe owned by the provincial government and with name of Ampatuan's father on it, was also found parked near where the bodies were recovered.

Police said on Monday that the backhoe was used to dig graves at the massacre site on three occasions, on Nov. 18, Nov. 22 and Nov. 23, the day of the murders. One of the three operators of the machine, an employee of the provincial government's engineering office, has been taken into custody.

Ampatuan has accused the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a separatist group, for the killings. But the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has called his allegation "absurd."

The wife of Buluan Vice Mayor Ismael Toto Mangudadatu was on her way on Nov. 23 to file her husband's candidacy papers for governor, a campaign that would have pitted the vice mayor against Ampatuan, who was seeking to succeed his father as governor in next year's elections.

The convoy of six vehicles she was riding together with family members, two lawyers and 30 journalists is believed to have been ambushed by about 100 armed men. Authorities say the victims were brought to an area near the national highway in Barangay Malating, killed and buried in pre-dug graves.

Authorities ended the search for more victims last week. Some of the 57 bodies they found were buried together with the vehicles, while others had hackmarks. The women showed signs of having been raped. The victims include employees of the city government of Tacurong and the local National Economic development Authority office who "happened to be there [at the highway]" were killed, Senior Supt. Willie Dangane said last week.

Several bodies remain unidentified and some people who are believed to have been part of the convoy are reportedly still missing. Among the journalists in the convoy, 24 have been found dead, according to the Justice Department. A small group of journalists survived the tragedy because they separated from the convoy and made a stop at a gas station.