International group Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the Philippine government to ensure the protection not just of the witnesses to the Maguindanao massacre but their families as well.

HRW’s call came amid reports of attacks on family members of the massacre witnesses.

In a statement, HRW Deputy Director for Asia Elaine Pearson expressed concern for the safety of witnesses upon learning of the killings of two relatives of witnesses and the shooting of a third.

Pearson expressed alarm that the large number of police, military, and paramilitary personnel implicated in the massacre remain at large.

She also questioned the laxity in security measures that allowed one suspect to escape from detention.

“Witnesses won’t come forward if there is a ‘second Maguindanao massacre’ of witnesses and their families. The government needs to act quickly to protect witnesses and their relatives, and to arrest and securely detain the remaining suspects,” said Pearson.

BRIBERY & HARASSMENT

Last February 21, the elder brother of one suspect-turned-witness, Police Officer 1 Rainier Ebus, was shot multiple times in Datu Piang and severely wounded.

HRW claimed to have credible information that alleged emissaries of the Ampatuan clan, implicated in the massacre last November, had offered Ebus P5 million to recant his witness statement. The shooting of his brother happened after he refused to cooperate with the said demand.

“Credible sources also told Human Rights Watch that another witness was offered P25 million to recant his signed witness statement. He refused. Within weeks of testifying in court, two of his family members were shot dead,” the HRW reported.

A member of the Ampatuan para-military forces allegedly told HRW that the Ampatuans have placed a bounty on the heads of those who cooperate with investigators to testify against the Ampatuan family.

“He said that in late 2009, men linked to the Ampatuan family ordered him to kill one of the men involved in the massacre. The paramilitary force member said he escaped the Ampatuan fold after hearing that he was the next to be killed. He said he has learned that there is a P2-million bounty on his head,” said Pearson.

The HRW urged the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to thoroughly and transparently investigate these killings and acts of intimidation against witnesses.

Last February 9, the Department of Justice (DoJ) filed charges against 197 people for 57 counts of murder.

Arrest warrants have yet to be issued due to judicial delays, though some of those implicated are in custody charged with other crimes.

Of the 197 charged, 63 are police officers. Forty-nine of these police officers are under “restrictive custody”; the remaining 14 are “absent without leave.”

HRW QUESTIONS ESCAPE FROM CUSTODY

The threat to witnesses is highlighted by the government’s lax detention of a suspect in custody, HRW said.

A Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) told HRW that firearms are confiscated from police officers under restrictive custody and the officers are largely restricted to the police camp, though they can leave under guard. They remain on active duty and can be assigned administrative tasks.

The HRW questioned the effectiveness of this custody status since at least one police suspect, Anwar Masukat, escaped restrictive custody in late December or early January, reportedly swore an affidavit recanting his witness statement, and is now missing.

Masukat had initially provided a signed statement implicating Ampatuan Jr. as the leader of the Maguindanao massacre.

In his new statement, he pointed instead to another police witness as the massacre’s mastermind.

The Investigation Group spokesperson told Human Rights Watch that Masukat escaped restrictive custody while en route from Camp Crame, in Manila, to his unit in Maguindanao.

Retired Police Superintendent Piang Adam, the former Maguindanao provincial police director, escaped from the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Jail in Tacurong City between February 16 and 17.

The Sultan Kudarat provincial police director, Senior Superintendent Suharto Teng Tocao, is a relative of Adam, and his jail guard, Taha Kadalum, was his cousin and has since been charged in relation to the escape.

STRENGTHEN WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAM

The HRW called on Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno to carry out an urgent review of the detention arrangements of all those implicated in the Maguindanao massacre and publicly report on the findings and measures taken.

It also stressed the need for stronger witness protection measures to ensure, in keeping with President Arroyo’s statement of November 25, 2009, that “the perpetrators [of the Maguindanao massacre] will not escape justice.”

The HRW called on the Arroyo administration to provide sufficient funding to ensure adequate protection for witnesses and their families.

Security forces and the DoJ should take the measures needed to protect their physical safety, including relocation where necessary, and ensure that witnesses and their families are afforded appropriate housing. Witnesses who are themselves implicated in the killings should be appropriately – and safely – detained prior to trial.