Wife of Ampatuan rival had the most gunshots – NBI

Autopsy shows no signs of rape By Norman Bordadora, Jeannette Andrade
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:07:00 12/01/2009

Filed Under: Maguindanao Massacre, Election Violence, Crime and Law and Justice

MANILA, Philippines -- Bai Genalin Mangudadatu, the wife of Esmael Mangudadatu who is running for governor to wrest power away from the Ampatuans in Maguindanao, suffered 17 gunshot wounds and several “incised wounds,” according to a medico-legal report of the National Bureau of Investigation.

The NBI also found no sign of rape among the 15 female victims it had examined.

Bai Genalin, the wife of Esmael, the vice mayor of Buluan town, was to file her husband’s certificate of candidacy for Maguindanao governor when armed men blocked her convoy and killed her and at least 56 others on Nov. 23.

Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera, who received the NBI’s autopsy reports, said Mangudadatu’s wife appeared to have received the biggest number of gunshot wounds among the victims.

The autopsy reports were among the pieces of evidence that state prosecutors submitted in filing 25 counts of murder against the main suspect, Datu Unsay Mayor Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr., on Tuesday.

The report showed that the body of Bai Genalin was in the early state of decomposition and showed three incisions aside from the multiple gunshot wounds.

The gunshot wounds include one on her face and several near her genitals.

“The findings show that she was shot at close range,” Devanadera said.

Florencio Arizala, NBI medico-legal division chief, told reporters that there was no sign that the female victims had been sexually abused.

Among the 20 bodies processed by the NBI were those of Mangudadatu’s wife, two sisters and aunt as well as those of three media workers, including a woman.

No sperm was found on the slain women by female doctors of the NBI, Arizala said. “Sperm cells die after 72 hours but the bodies were found immediately the day after they were killed,” he said.

The chief NBI medico-legal officer, nevertheless, said a DNA test was needed for certainty.

“We can conduct DNA test as another step. You can ask the chemistry division about that. We already got smear from them (female victims) and processed it in a microscope,” he said.

He further theorized that the zippers of the women’s pants could have been opened when the bodies became bloated.

“That may explain why their clothes were ripped and their zippers opened. It could have also been caused by the manner the bodies were handled,” Arizala said.

He noted that one of the female victims, who had a 24-inch waistline while alive, ended up with a 40-inch waistline when her body was recovered.