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InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA, Philippines - A niece of Maguindanao Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, whose mother was one of 58 persons killed in the November 23, 2009 Ampatuan massacre in Maguindanao province, says the alleged killers, led by key members of the Ampatuan clan, should pay her P3 billion for her loss.
Ayesha Vanessa Hajar Andamen, who said she is a princess, told prosecutors Thursday, during the hearing of the civil aspect of the trial, that while the life of her mother, Eden Mangudadatu Andamen, has no price, “since we belong to a royal family (the Ampatuans should pay) around P3 billion.”
Eden, the vice mayor of Mangudadatu town, was one of two sisters of the Maguindanao governor – the other was Farina, who was four months pregnant at the time – who died in the massacre along with his wife, Genalin.
Although 58 persons in all died, only 57 counts of murder have been filed against the 195 suspects in the massacre because the body of one of the victims, photojournalist Reynaldo “Bebot” Momay, has yet to be found.
“I was hurt. I cried (because) that should not have happened,” Ayesha, who works as a cashier and is the eldest of seven children, told prosecutor Peter Medalle. “She (Eden) is a Muslim woman. It is forbidden in our culture to kill a woman.”
Meanwhile, the widow of another massacre victim asked the court that she be awarded P30-million in damages.
“It was so painful for me when he died because at that time, I was five months pregnant. I lost a husband and my child lost a father,” Fairodz Usman Demello, who lost her husband Eugene, said in Filipino.
Eden asked Eugene to join the convoy of Mangudadatu supporters and 32 other journalists supposed to file his certificate of candidacy for the 2010 gubernatorial elections in Maguindanao.
Mangudadatu was supposed to run against former Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., who is accused of leading the 100 gunmen who stopped the convoy and carried out the mass murder.
The court will have the final say on how much the victims’ relatives will receive in damages when the trial ends.
On Wednesday, Lakmodin Saliao, the Ampatuans’ helper of more than two decades, positively identified his former masters as the brains of the massacre.
Saliao, who served the Ampatuan household for 23 years, identified former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. as the one who ordered the attack on the convoy.
Saliao is said to have been present at the mansion of Ampatuan Sr. in the Maguindanao capital of Shariff Aguak on November 17 and 22, 2009, when the plot was allegedly hatched. He earlier testified that clan patriarch Andal Sr., his sons Zaldy, Sajid, and other relatives and supporters were present at the dinners where the murders were allegedly planned.
