There's a headline you don't see every day...[Straits Times] A POLICEMAN who witnessed an election-related massacre of 57 people last year told a court on Wednesday that a former town mayor - the main suspect in the deaths - bumped off 40 victims as they pleaded for their lives.
Senior Police Officer Rainier Ebus testified he saw former Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr, the scion of the clan that ruled southern Maguindanao province, shoot about 40 of the 57 victims after stopping their vehicles.
Among the dead in the Nov 23, 2009 massacre - the worst political killings in recent Philippine history - were at least 30 news hounds accompanying supporters of Esmael Mangudadatu, a local politician running for governor.
His rivals from the Ampatuan clan and "militiamen" under their command have been charged with murder. They have pleaded innocent.
No, no! Certainly not!
Mr Ebus, testifying for the prosecution, said he was among coppers who accompanied Mr Ampatuan and his gunnies to a village where they stopped a convoy of news hounds and party hacks of Mr Mangudadatu, who was challenging the Ampatuan clan for governorship.
Previous witnesses have said that Ampatuan clan members, including patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr, had plotted the killings over dinner six days before the ambush.
A move of particular brilliance, since it scandalized about half the world.