Militiaman who testified against Ampatuan missing for more than a week

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InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

A militiaman, who is part of the prosecution's set of witnesses in the Maguindanao massacre case, has been missing for more than a week.

This has prompted a private prosecutor and other members of the prosecution panel to express fears that Esmael Amil Enog may be already dead.

Nena Santos, counsel for Maguindanao governor Toto Mangundadatu, said the witness’s family has not heard from him for over a week now. "Since we cannot locate him in Maguindanao, which is unusual, we are expecting the worst," she said.

Earlier, Enog testified in court that he drove 36 members of the clan's private army from November 22 to 23 in two batches to Ampatuan, Maguindanao province, the morning of the massacre.

The November 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre, believed to have been allegedly perpetrated by the Ampatuan clan, left 57 people including women, lawyers, and journalists dead.

Andal Ampatuan Jr. leads the 196 accused which includes policemen, militiamen, members of his clan and the family’s supporters. “We fear that he may have been murdered...Or set-up,” Santos said, adding that the prosecution is investigating with the Maguindanao provincial police office on Enog’s whereabouts.

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