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Tag: Hello Garci. Maguindanao massacre

Zaldy and Bedol under WPP: a stinking package deal

Tasked to save family's wealth and political machinery
Surely, Justice Secretary Lilia de Lima knows the ramifications of her willingness to consider Zaldy Ampatuan, former governor of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao and one of the 196 persons accused in connection with the Maguindanao massacre, as state witness in a possible election fraud case against Gloria Arroyo.

“That is a new case, a totally different case and we can consider them, or whoever, it is Zaldy Ampatuan or Lintang Bedol. It would depend on the extent of their participation, “ De Lima said a day after Zaldy and former Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol said in separate interviews with ABS-CBN’s Anthony Taberna where they dangled information everybody knew about cheating in the 2004 and 2007 elections. Nothing in the published reports, though, directly implicates Gloria Arroyo.

De Lima also echoed Malacañang’s assurance that Zaldy will not be considered state witness in the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre that killed at least 58 persons, 32 of them journalists. This was despite the offer of Zaldy that he was willing to turn his back on his father, Andal Ampatuan Sr, identified by witnesses as the mastermind of the gruesome murders, and his brother, Andal Jr, identified as the triggerman.