It will be a virtual “family reunion” for key members of the Ampatuan clan and the rest of the policemen and militiamen implicated in the infamous Maguindanao massacre last year following a court decision ordering their transfer to a maximum detention facility in Bicutan, Taguig City.

Only that there is no specific time as to how long they would be together at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology-run Metro Manila District Jail located inside Camp Bagong Diwa.

Senior Superintendent Benito Estipona, spokesman of the Philippine National Police-Task Force Maguindanao, said they expect to move all the accused in the massacre in Taguig this weekend.

“We are on the thick of security preparations for their transfer in no time,” said Estipona in a press briefing.

“There is an arraignment for 14 of the accused on Wednesday (April 21) so we expect that before that day comes, all of the accused are accounted in Bicutan,” he added.

The 14 accused Estipona is referring to are Police Inspector Rex Diongon; PO3 Abibudin Abdulgani; PO2s Saudiar Ulah, Saudi Pasutan, Hamad Nana, and Hernani Decipulo; PO1s Pia Kamidon, Rainer Ebus, Esmael Manuel Guialal, Michael Madsig, Esprielito Lejarso, Herich Amaba; and, Takpan Dilon and Esmael Canapia whose firearms seized from them were found to have been used in the killing of 57 journalists and civilians on November 23 last year in Ampatuan town.

There were actually a total of 60 accused under the custody of the police and military – six of them members of the Ampatuan clan, four militiamen, and 50 policemen.

Only 14 will be arraigned on Wednesday before the sala of Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of Quezon City Regional Trial Court, Branch 221, since the rest have pending motions before the court.

Estipona said those currently detained at the PNP Custodial Center will be the priority of the transfer, referring to 50 policemen headed by former Maguindanao Police Provincial Director Abusama Maguid and his deputy Chief Inspector Sukarno Dicay and four members of the Civilian Volunteer Organization (CVO).

“Sufficent number of security personnel will be deployed to ensure that their transfer is safe and secure from Camp Crame to Bicutan. The same with those coming from Mindanao,” said Estipona.

Those coming from Mindanao are the clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr., his sons – suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Zaldy Ampatuan and Sajid Ampatuan – and relatives Datu Akmad and Datu Anwar Ampatuan.

Andal Sr. is currently under the custody of the Philippine Army in Davao City while the rest are detained in a police camp in General Santos City.

It was recalled that it was Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., the principal accused in the massacre, who was first to be arraigned and committed to Taguig from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) facility in Manila.

Andal Jr. has been under the NBI custody since his arrest a few days after the November 23 Maguindanao massacre. The five other Ampatuans were collared early December last year over allegations of instigating rebellion to protest the arrest of Andal Jr.

The transfer to Bicutan will reunite Andal Jr. not only to his father, brothers, and relatives but also to the CVOs and policemen who allegedly accompanied him in the planning and execution of what is now known as the Maguindanao massacre.

A total of 136 other accused are still at large, four of them are soldiers and 13 are either members of Ampatuan clan or their close allies.

Last Friday, Estipona announced the arrest of Thong Guiamano, alias Ibrahim Kamal Tatak, a member of the Civilian Volunteer Organization (CVO) who was allegedly among those who abducted and escorted the victims to the massacre site.

He was collared in Barangay Manungkaling in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao on Thursday after verification revealed that he matched the description of the one of the accused CVOs.

“We have about 20 tracker teams, each with specific targets, to locate and arrest them. So we expect that in the coming days, more arrests will be forthcoming,” said Estipona.