The Philippine National Police (PNP) has recommended a total P33.5-million reward for the arrest of the 134 accused in the infamous Maguindanao massacre who remain at large even as a top official said on Saturday that the supposed slain witness in the grisly murders last year could be a bogus one.

Senior Superintendent Benito Estipona, deputy chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and concurrent commander of Task Force Maguindanao, confirmed that the supposed slain witness Suwaib Upham was indeed the same person who claimed that he saw and actually participated in the murder of 57 people, including at least 30 mediamen, in Ampatuan, Maguindanao in November last year.

“Yes it’s him, we already have possible identification. The man who introduced himself as ‘Jessie’ was the man who was killed in Parang,” said Estipona in a phone interview.

“The employees of the funeral parlor where the victim was taken and the policemen who saw the body also confirmed it,” he added.

But Estipona was quick to clarify that they have yet to verify the real identity of Upham since his name as claimed by prosecution lawyer Harry Roque is different from that of the identification card taken from him after the killing. The supposed slain witness’ name in his postal identification card is Sweb Dalanda Tacil.

“We already sent some of our men to his relatives to know his real name, because it’s kind of confusing. They said his name was Suwaib Upham while the ID taken from him with his picture has the name Sweb Dalanda Tacil on it,” said Estipona.

It was Roque who broke the news of Upham’s death, saying the latter was shot dead on June 14 in Parang, Maguindanao.

Roque added that Upham’s death is a big loss to the prosecution since he could have named the perpetrators of the crime, having witnessed and actually participated in the killings.

But Estipona said only Roque has been claiming so far that Upham was suspect and witness in the infamous Maguindanao massacre, saying that they themselves were surprised when the news broke that a witness was gunned down.

It was learned that Upham was the masked man, who used the alias Jessie, who was interviewed over television, claiming he participated in the killing.

“We have been looking for that this alias Jessie since that interview because he could be a vital witness since he had a good story of the massacre, but we could not locate him,” said Estipona.

“And we only found out later that this Jessie is also the Suwaib Upham who was reported in the media as a massacre witness who was killed in Maguindanao recently,” he added.

In Saturday’s interview, Estipona declared that Suwaib Upham, alias Jessie, could have just concocted story about the Maguindanao massacre.

This, after verification from other witnesses presently under police custody revealed that Upham was not present during the massacre.

“We showed the picture of this Upham to other witnesses like Takpan Dilon and Esmael Canapia who were really present during the massacre. They could not recognize him, sinabi nila na hindi naman nila kilala yung tao (they said that they did not know him,” said Estipona.

“They (Dilon and Canapia) said they did not see him at the crime scene as what he (Upham) claimed... Between this man and the two CVOs, I think they are more credible because they were arrested right after the killings,” he added.

Dilon and Canapia, it was recalled, were arrested by responding soldiers while walking away from the massacre site in Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town, hours after the crime scene was discovered.

Ballistics examination revealed that the firearms seized from them matched with the spent shells and slugs retrieved from the massacre site, a positive indication that they fired their guns in the massacre site.

Dilon and Canapia, Civilian Volunteer Organization (CVO) fighters, agreed to become state witnesses and later divulge the reason of the massacre and who were present during the actual killings.

“It is clear that some of the witnesses (to the massacre) did not know him. And we want to make it clear that he was not listed as one of the accused, is not a witness and he is not even linked with us pertaining to any affidavit,” said Estipona.

A total of 196 people were charged in connection with the massacre, including 13 members of the Ampatuan clan, among them were the clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan, Sr. and his sons suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Zaldy Ampatuan and Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. who allegedly led the brutal murders.

Estipona said that a total of 62 people involve in the massacre are now detained at the maximum detention facility in Bicutan, Taguig including the key Ampatuan members and at least 40 policemen.

A total of 134 accused, including soldiers and policemen, are yet to be accounted.

“We are continuously hunting them down... we have even recommended that an appropriate reward be offered for their capture, to expedite their arrest” said Estipona.

“Our recommendation is P250,000 reward for each of the 134 accused who are still at large,” he added.

Estipona said their recommendation is yet to be approved by the Department of the Interior and Local Government. (Aaron Recuenco)