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How disgusting!

By Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net

A former Cabinet secretary of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and two others received P10 million each early this year from one of the suspects in the massacre in Maguindanao, a witness told the local court Wednesday.

Lakmudin Saliao, house help for 18 years of Andal Ampatuan Sr., testified in Filipino that last march 11 he was instructed by the former governor to give the money to former press secretary Jess Dureza “in exchange for his freedom from rebellion.”

Aside from murder following the deaths of 57 people in Maguindanao last Nov. 23, 2009, Ampatuan Sr. was also charged with rebellion after he and some members of his family allegedly tried to usurp the authority of the government that was then investigating the carnage in the province where the clan wielded influence.

Saliao also testified before the local court in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig that then Maguindanao chief of police Sukarno Dicay and one Erin Ebus also received P10 million each for recanting on their testimonies against the Ampatuans.

Mike Magtimbang, a board member of the Maguindanao provincial council, received P20 million for taking care of Ampatuan Sr. in Camp Anakan in Eastern Mindanao where he was initially detained following his arrest, Saliao said.

Saliao said that the Ampatuan patriarch also instructed him to give P200-million to Datu Umbra Sinsuat, Esmael Mangudadatu's closest rival in the Maguindanao gubernatorial race last May.

He added that a certain prosecutor from Davao Thaddeus Sayson received P5,000 "per signature." However, he said he was not aware of the transaction between Ampatuan Sr. and the prosecutor though he knew that the patriarch gave Sayson the money every time he was being asked to sign something.

On the other hand, Saliao said the money for Ebus was taken by four agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) stationed in Davao to Manila where Ebus was staying.

Quoting Ampatuan Sr. Saliao said, “Ito na ba ang maghahatid ng pera sa Manila para kay Ebus [Is he the one who will bring the money for Ebus]?...Very good, alis na kayo bukas [leave tomorrow].”

Saliao added that even lawyers of the Ampatuans – Philip Pantojan, Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi and Sigfrid Fortun – who visited Ampatuan Sr. at the Davao hospital told them not to tell the truth.

“Tama ba si Zaldy [former ARMM governor Zaldy Ampatuan] na isisi na lang kay Jr. [Andal Ampatuan Jr.] ang massacre [Is it right for Zaldy to blame Jr.],” said Saliao, quoting Ampatuan Sr. while talking to Fortun.

“’Wag kayong umamin. Kami nang mga abogado ang bahala...Sinabi ko po kay Zaldy na wag kayong aamin [Don’t admit to anything. We the lawyers will take care of things… I told Zaldy not to admit anything],” Saliao said, quoting Fortun. Saliao was the companion of Ampatuan Sr. at the Davao hospital.

Fortun, however, denied the allegation. “How can I advise Zaldy? I cannot (because) I do not represent him.” Fortun is the counsel of Andal Ampatuan Jr.

Saliao also revealed that Ampatuan Sr. was not really sick. He said the head doctor of Maguindanao, Dr. Tahil Sulahig provided the ambulance and oxygen tank for their trip from Sharif Aguak to Davao hospital on Dec. 4, 2009.

“Nagusap sila na dalhin si Ampatuan Sr. sa Cotabato para magkunwaring maysakit...Sa loob ng ambulansya, ako po ang naglalagay ng (oxygen) mask tuwing dumadating kami sa mga check point para magkunwaring malubha sya [They talked and agreed to bring Ampatuan Sr.in Cotabato and pretend to be sick . . . Inside the ambulance, I am the one who puts the oxygen mask everytime we pass through a checkpoint to pretend that he’s really sick],” Saliao said.

Saliao only escaped the Ampatuans after he learned from one of the granddaughters that there was a plan to kill him because he knew so much.

Saliao said the last instruction given to him was to lure Pantojan to meet with him where a killer was waiting and the lawyer’s death would be pinned on Mangudadatu.

He was supposed to meet Pantojan at the Gaisano Mall “pero hindi ko na po sya sinipot dahil nakunsensya na po ako [but I did not meet him anymore because my conscience was bothering me].”

Saliao said a military officer helped him escape and was taken to the Department of Justice (DoJ).

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