L awyer Gwendolyn Pimentel today said a self-confessed hit man of the Ampatuans, who is now under police detention, should be made to tell all to render justice to his numerous victims and to make the culprits pay for their heinous crimes.

Ms. Pimentel, a former solicitor in the Office of the Solicitor General and a Child Rights Advocate, said she was shocked and outraged as fellow Filipinos upon hearing the revelation of Abdul (not his real name), an alleged professional assassin in the employ of the Ampatuans who executed hundreds of persons upon orders of his masters.

“I believe that our law-enforcement-and-justice authorities should conduct a deeper investigation into the string of murders allegedly committed by this man and find out the truth behind his claim that he only carried out the orders of the Ampatuans,” she said.

In an exclusive interview with ABS-CBN Channel 2, Abdul recounted that he was only l2 when he was recruited by the Ampatuans and trained on weaponry and combat tactics to undertake the assassination of their political enemies and other individuals. He said that he and 30 other young boys were brought to the mountains of Upi, Maguindanao where they underwent training from foreign and local experts.

“I am appalled that due to poverty, children, who should be spending their time in school, are lured and brainwashed by sinister forces to become killers,” Atty. Pimentel said.

S he said political warlords who do not have any qualms in ordering the killing of innocent people and who bring up children to be mercenary killers fall under the category of the worst criminals of the world and deserve to be meted out the most-severe punishment.

Atty. Pimentel, president of the Association of Child-Caring Agencies of the Philippines and a senatorial candidate of the Nacionalista Party in the 2010 elections, said Abdul’s revelation about his role as triggerman came on the heels of the disclosure of Chairman Leila de Lima that the Commission on Human Rights has been looking into the alleged involvement of the Ampatuans in about 200 murder cases that took place before the Nov. 23 massacre of 57 civilians.

Members of the Ampatuan clan, led by Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan, and Datu Junsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan, Jr. are facing multiple murder charges for the carnage.

Abdul, now in his late 20s, is currently detained at the provincial jail in Sultan Kudarat on murder charges. # # #