[ UPDATE: Philippines Massacre Witness Exposes Cover-up Plot ]
The trial against the men accused of gunning down scores of journalists and others last year in the Philippines began on Wednesday.
Damning testimony was given against the primary suspect, Andal Ampatuan Jr. A fellow defendant, Lakmudin Saliao, reported him saying: “That’s easy, father. We kill all of them when they come here.”
Ampatuan Jr.’s father is head of a powerful clan in the southern province of Maguindanao, where the massacre took place. The son is charged with killing 57 people, including 32 journalist and media workers, last November.
Ampatuan Jr.’s father and his family have dominated the unruly Maguindanao province for over a decade, and have close ties to Gloria Arroyo, who was president until the 2010 elections.
Along with the journalists killed last year were members of Arroyo’s political opposition, including the wife and pregnant sister of political rival to Arroyo, Emanuel Mangudadatu. The women had been traveling in a convoy, with journalists, to the provincial capital to file election papers for Mangudadatu.
They were ambushed and shot by a group of around 100 armed men, their bodies found in a mass grave in a mountainous area of the province. An investigation revealed that women in the group had been raped.
The testimony of Lakmudin Saliao, who served as a personal assistant to Ampatuan Senior, related to a meeting he had attended at the Ampatuan’s home six days before the massacre. Saliao made it clear that Andal Ampatuan Jr. intended to kill all members in the convoy, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said.
“Do not entrust the roadblock to others. You yourself should stop them at the highway, near the place where a backhoe is conducting some diggings,” Saliao quoted the father as replying.
Ampatuan Jr. has denied all accusations.
Another 196 people, including family members, police, and civilian militia, also face charges for their role in what has been the country's worst election-related violence in years. The case also includes testimonies of 200 prosecution and 300 defense witnesses.
Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists hired a lawyer, Prima Jesusa Quinsayas, to represent the families of 17 of the murdered journalists.
He said in an interview with RSF before the trial that the process was expected to take several years, as the main defendants were attempting to delay court hearings and muddy the situation with numerous court filings.
Rights groups said that the trial would be a test for the rule of law in the country, which has a history of impunity for connected individuals and in slayings of journalists.
