A powerful Muslim clan prepared huge bribes to try to cover up the killings of 57 people, including 30 journalists, in the Philippines’ worst massacre, a witness told the murder trial yesterday.
Andal Ampatuan Jr, the main defendant, and more than 100 armed followers allegedly shot dead the victims in November last year to stop a rival from running against him for the post of provincial governor.
The Ampatuan clan earmarked 50 million pesos (US$1.14 million), a fifth for a member of then-Philippine president Gloria Arroyo’s Cabinet, to get charges against them dismissed, Lakmudin Saliao, a former Ampatuan servant, told the court.
“Andal Ampatuan Senior said to give money ... to Dureza. Ten million [pesos] to Dureza,” said Saliao, 33.
He told the Manila court he was referring to Jesus Dureza, a senior adviser sent by Arroyo to the clan compound after the massacre to convince the family to surrender a key suspect, the patriarch’s son and namesake Andal Ampatuan Jr.
“Ampatuan Senior said it will be in exchange for the freedom of Andal Ampatuan Junior,” said Saliao, a former personal servant to the patriarch.
He said he did not know if any of the alleged bribes were actually delivered.
Dureza denounced the testimony as a “fabrication.”
“Anyway, I wait for my chance to testify and give my side in the Ampatuan case,” Dureza said in a statement to news agencies.
Six Ampatuan clan members and 190 others have been charged over the Nov. 23 murders.
The Ampatuan family had controlled the southern province of Maguindanao and, until shortly after the murders, was closely allied with Arroyo, who cut her ties with them only after the massacre.
Experts say Arroyo allowed the Ampatuans to build up a private army to serve as a buffer against Muslim separatists in Maguindanao.
Saliao told the court the family prepared 30 million pesos for two provincial officials and 10 million pesos for provincial police chief Sukarno Dicay, one of the defendants.
After the hearing, Dicay told reporters: “I did not receive the money. If I did, you would not see me here in court.”
Saliao said he overheard the Ampatuan patriarch talking about the alleged coverup budget with a close confidante in March, about a month before the government brought charges against the clan members.
Saliao said he fled his employers when he learned in May that they planned to kill him because he knew too much.
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