Clan planned massacre of 57 people over dinner, court is told

A SERVANT of a clan accused of massacring 57 people - including 30 journalists - told a court yesterday the family plotted the killings over dinner.

Lakmudin Saliao told the first day of the trial that patriarch of the clan, Andal Ampatuan sr, had gathered his siblings for dinner to ask them how they could stop their Philippine political rival running for provincial governor, one of the key regional posts that the Ampatuans had held and exploited for years.

Former town mayor Andal Ampatuan jr, the scion of the clan and the prime suspect in the 23 November massacre, replied, "That's easy. If they come here, just kill them all," Mr Saliao told the court.

He said the elder Ampatuan then asked his children if they agreed with the plan, and according to Mr Saliao, "everybody laughed, saying, 'It's OK for everybody to be killed.'"

Mr Saliao said the Ampatuan patriarch ordered that his rival, Esmael Mangudadatu, should be stopped on a highway where he was supposed to pass on the way to file his candidacy papers.

It was on a hilltop near the highway in Maguindanao that troops recovered the 57 bodies, gunned down and hastily buried along with some of the victims' vehicles in mass graves. Mangudadatu, who was later elected governor in the May elections, had sent his wife, sisters and other female relatives accompanied by journalists in the belief women wouldn't be harmed.

On the day of the crime, Mr Saliao said Ampatuan jr told his father through a cell phone - its loudspeaker on - that he had blocked the convoy. The father ordered him to gun down everybody but spare the media, to which Ampatuan jr replied, "No… somebody could talk if we won't wipe out everybody." The Ampatuans have denied the charges. Andal Ampatuan jr and 16 policemen were the first to be arraigned and were led in handcuffs into the packed court inside a Manila prison.

Nena Santos, a lawyer for the Mangudadatus, said Mr Saliao's testimony was "a smoking gun".

Outside the court, sharpshooters patrolled on a catwalk while dozens of armed police stood guard.Inside, Nenita Oquindo, who lost her husband and daughter in the massacre, wept as Mr Saliao recounted how the killings were allegedly hatched.

The carnage drew international condemnation and prompted then President Gloria Arroyo to impose martial law for a week as troops cracked down on the Ampatuans - her political allies.

A prominent senator, Joker Arroyo, has recently warned that the sheer volume of evidence in the case - at least 227 witnesses are listed by the prosecution and another 373 by the defence - means it could drag on for "200 years".

Officials refused to comment on how long the trial will last.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch urged the government to protect witnesses and round up more than 100 suspects still at large, most of them linked to the Ampatuans' private army. It said five people with knowledge of abuses by the Ampatuans have been shot.

"With fewer than half of the suspects in custody, witnesses, investigators, and others who might be deemed to be a threat to the Ampatuan family are at risk," a Human Rights Watch spokesman said.