COTABATO CITY— The prosecution of the Ampatuan Massacre case suffered another setback with the killing of one of the two new vital witnesses in Maguindanao on Tuesday, Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Toto Mangudadatu said.
Mangudadatu said Dennix Sakal, former driver of former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., and Sukarno Butch Saudagal, former bagman of former Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., were ambushed in Barangay Bagong, Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao at about 2 p.m.
Sakal died on the spot, while Saudagal was hit in his arm and is recuperating in an undisclosed hospital.
“They were our additional vital witnesses to the massacre but, unluckily they were executed,” Mangudadatu told Roman Catholic Church-run radio dxMS here.
Mangudadatu said the two were onboard a motorcycle from Barangay Bagong on their way to Buluan, Maguindanao, to meet his lawyers to formalize their testimonies on the massacre.
He said Saudagal has already initially signed his sworn statement, while Sakal was to execute his formal statement.
“I see no other reason they were killed but their desire to become state witnesses,” Mangudadatu said.
The country’s worst political violence on November 23, 2009 in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, left 58 persons, about 30 of them journalists, killed.
The Ampatuan patriarch and several of his children, policemen and militiamen are now detained on multiple murder charges.
PNA