QC court views grisly massacre pics for 1st time

For relatives of the victims of the Ampatuan massacre, seeing photographs of mangled bodies was one thing. But seeing the same pictures blown up 30 or 50 times through a projector, in full view of the court, was a totally different story. For the first time since trial started in January 2010, the prosecution on Wednesday finally presented to the Quezon City trial court photographs of the crime scene at Sitio Masalay in Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town. The photos, taken by police investigators, were shown through an overhead projector. Previously, prosecution lawyers only handed out small-sized prints of photos of the victims’ bodies to the judge and defense counsels. Chief Inspector Raymond Cabling, chief of the Region XII Police Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO), presented in court the photos he took on the night of November 23, 2009 after the massacre site was discovered in Maguindanao province. Unlike the medico-legal experts who autopsied the victims' remains, Cabling himself personally went to Sitio Masalay to "document" and retrieve the bodies from the crime site. Projected on a white backdrop inside the courtroom, the photos showed the bloodied and bullet-riddled remains of at least seven victims. The first projected photo was a close-up shot of the severely damaged skull of one of the victims inside one of the abandoned vehicles. "This shows a viceration of brain tissues," Cabling said. The image elicited gasps and sighs from people inside the court room, mostly from the prosecution side. Some prosecutors were even seen shaking their head in apparent horror while looking at the grisly images. Other pictures showed an assortment of victims' belongings like bags, documents, and wallets in total disarray inside and outside the vans. Maguindanao Gov. Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu, who lost his wife and two sisters in the massacre, said the photos showed the "brutality" that the victims suffered at the hands of their killers. Cabling said he and his team drove up to the crime site at around 9 p.m. in the evening and scoured the area for evidence, carefully taking photographs of the victims and their vehicles. Cabling also took a photograph of the backhoe that was found at the crime site. The photo showed the hoe of the equipment touching the ground. "This [picture of hoe] shows that there is a probability that this [backhoe equipment] was used to excavate the bodies of the victims," Cabling told Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Regional Trial Court Branch 221. The massacre – widely condemned nationwide and overseas for its brutality – resulted in the death of 57 people, some of whose bodies were discovered buried beneath freshly dug soil at Sitio Masalay. A 58th person remains missing and is presumed dead, since his body has not yet been found apart. Prominent members of the Ampatuan clan and members of armed groups under their control are accused of the masterminding and carrying out the attack. Early on, the defense had objected to the prosecution's request to have the photos of the victims' remains projected in court while medico-legal experts interpret their autopsy reports. This prompted Solis-Reyes to instead allow the prosecution to just use anatomical sketches of the victims' remains. This time, however, actual photos of the victims had to be shown in court through a projector because the actual crime scene and not merely autopsy reports had to be discussed in court, said lawyer Nena Santos, Mangudadatu's legal counsel.—JV, GMA News