Raps filed vs 7 for allegedly arming Ampatuans

Seven people, including three police officers, have been slapped with complaints for allegedly arming the Ampatuan clan, blamed for the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao province last November 23. The complaint was filed by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) before the Department of Justice (DOJ). Named respondents were: • Chief Superintendent Bensal Maga Jabarani, deputy regional director for administration, Regional Headquarters based in Camp Salipada Pendatun in Parang, Maguindanao; • Superintendent Bahnarin Unas Kamaong, group director of the 15th Regional Mobile Group, also based in the same camp; • Superintendent Danilo Maligalig, chief of Firearms Explosives Division (FED) based in Camp Crame; and • Victor Karunungan, Eduardo Santos, Lyn Demartin Justo and Melva Valdez Libao, executives of Arms Corporation Phils (Armscor) that is based in Marikina City. The police officers would also be slapped with separate charges for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. In a four-page complaint, PNP-CIDG Division Chief Generoso Bonifacio said some ammunition recovered in Maguindanao were found to be illegally bought from Armscor in 2008 and 2009. The complainants said the pieces of ammunition were traced to be from Armscor through their lot numbers. The PNP noted that its Firearms and Explosives Division had not issued a permit to purchase ammunition to the police regional office of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (PRO-ARMM) on August 21, 2008 and April 10, 2009. “The sales of ammunition on these two occasions are illegal since they are made by unauthorized personnel. P/Supt. Kamaong assigned in the Regional Mobile Group is not authorized to purchase ammunition since only the chief, regional logistics resource development division (RLRDD) is the only authorized person to buy ammunition in behalf of PRO ARMM," the complaint stated. The transactions were made on a cash basis in the total amount of P20 million for the full payment of one million rounds of ammunitions or two batches of five hundred thousand rounds of ammunition. - KBK, GMANews.TV