What Do You Think?

[jerrys1960]

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100128/tap-philippines-politics-massacre-trial-5cc1ef8.html

Court hears wife's last words before Philippines massacre

AFP - Thursday, January 28

MANILA (AFP) - A politician whose wife was massacred along with 56 other people in the southern Philippines tearfully recalled on Wednesday her terrified last words moments before she was killed.

Esmael Mangudadatu said his wife made one last mobile phone call to him just after she and the others had been abducted by gunmen, who were allegedly led by a rival politician, as they were travelling in a convoy on a remote road.

"She said: 'We have been stopped by so many men here. Armed men'," Mangudadatu told a court hearing during the trial of Andal Ampatuan Jnr, the rival politician charged with multiple counts of murder over the massacre.

"Unsay (Ampatuan Jnr's nickname) is here. He struck me," Mangudadatu quoted his wife as saying, as he fought back tears.

"Those were the last words of my wife."

Aside from Mangududatu's wife Jennelyn, his pregnant sister and an aunt were in the convoy and were shot dead on November 23 last year in the southern province of Maguindanao.

Also in the convoy were lawyers and over 30 journalists who were travelling to an electoral office where Jennelyn was planning to register her husband's candidacy to run against Ampatuan Jnr for the post of provincial governor.

The massacre was allegedly the culmination of a fierce rivalry between the two Muslim clans who had long jostled for power in Maguindanao, a violence-wracked province home to a Muslim separatist insurgency.

In his testimony, Mangudadatu said his clan decided to send his wife and female relatives to register for him because they expected a confrontation, but the police and military refused to give them escorts.

Mangudadatu said he thought Ampatuan Jnr would not harm women.

"Under Islam, women are given respect and are not harmed, regardless of religion," he told the court.

Mangudadatu broke down in tears at the witness stand when presented with pictures of his wife's body.

Ampatuan Jnr, who has pleaded not guilty, sat quietly and occasionally conversed with his lawyers in the Manila courtroom as Mangudadatu gave his testimony.

Ampatuan Jnr's father and namesake, the patriarch of the clan, who was then governor of Maguindanao, and several other relatives were arrested after martial law was briefly imposed in Maguindanao and charged with rebellion.

Police have recommended murder charges also be laid against Ampatuan Snr and other clan members who held senior government posts. But the justice department has not yet decided whether to charge them with murder.

Before the killings, the Ampatuans were close political allies of President Gloria Arroyo, who armed and used them to help contain the Muslim separatist rebels.

They were expelled from Arroyo's ruling party after the massacre and the government broke up their private armies.

Mangudadatu told the court on Wednesday that Arroyo and other top officials had months before the massacre tried to reconcile the two clans and convince him not to run against Ampatuan Jnr.

In July and August, the members of the two clans met at the presidential palace but Mangudadatu said the peace efforts failed because he refused to give up his plans to run.

Also in August, then defence secretary Gilberto Teodoro met with Mangudadatu in a restaurant in Manila and tried to warn him to drop his candidacy.

"I love you Toto (his nickname) and you know how violent these people are," he quoted Teodoro -- now a presidential candidate-- as telling him, regarding the Ampatuans.

Ampatuan Jnr's trial is expected to last months, if not years. As there is no death penalty in the Philippines, he faces a maximum penalty of life in jail.