 POLITICAL MASS MASSACRE OF 2009. ">
Maguindanao massacre: MANILA, Philippines - Forty-three persons – including a politician about to file her and her brother’s certificates of candidacy (COCs), as well as journalists covering the event – were confirmed killed when heavily armed men waylaid the group on its way to the local Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in Maguindanao. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Public Information Office chief Lt. Col. Romero Brawner confirmed that as of yesterday afternoon, ground troops had recovered 21 bodies – 13 women and eight men – from the massacre site in Barangay Saniag, Ampatuan town. Supporters of Buluan Vice Mayor Toto Mangudadatu and Mangudadatu Vice Mayor Eden Mangudadatu and their companions were on their way to the Comelec office to file COCs at around 10:30 a.m. when they were blocked at a checkpoint manned by some 100 Maguindanao police personnel and armed civilian volunteers allegedly led by Datu Unsay town mayor Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr.
Reporters have been trying to get information on the incident from the spokesman of the 6th ID, Col. Jonathan Ponce. He, however, has not responded even if his staffers have confirmed that he is just inside the Army camp. Sources from the Army’s 601st Brigade said unidentified armed men indeed flagged down several vehicles at a portion of the Cotabato-Isulan Highway in Kauran area, which is at the boundary adjoining Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat provinces. The provincial police director of Maguindanao could not be reached for comment. The tension worsened when text messages started circulating that the gunmen executed and killed four of the reporters who were with the group. Local officials in towns at the border of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat said they still have to confirm from barangay leaders the veracity of the text messages that four journalist that accompanied the wife of Mangudadatu had been decapitated. A source who requested anonymity said the victims were shot at random, and some were decapitated with chainsaws. The same source added that the killers used a backhoe to dig mass graves where the victims were buried. Brig. Gen. Medardo Geslani, chief of the army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, said they are now validating the reports.
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