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| Southeast Asia |
| Watch me on TV, Ampatuan Jr. told aides |
| 2010-11-11 |
| [Inquirer.net (PI)] Two days after the 2009 slaughter of 57 civilians in Maguindanao, Andal Ampatuan Jr. allegedly told his close-in security and other henchmen to turn on their TV sets. "You'll see me on TV," Ampatuan Jr. allegedly told his security aides, among them a police officer who took the witness stand Wednesday at the resumption of the trial of the principal suspect and 196 others. Police Officer 1 Rainier Ebus told the court that he saw Ampatuan Jr. shoot "more or less 40 people" in Sitio Masalay in the morning of Nov. 23, 2009, while he hid in a car "out of fear" of his boss. He also claimed that Ampatuan Jr. inspected at least two checkpoints daily four days before the massacre. That word you're probably looking for is "evil." The lead defense counsel, Sigfrid Fortun, tried to disparage Ebus' testimony by saying that his sworn statement of Dec. 5, 2009, contained none of what he had said in court. |
| Posted by:Fred |