More trouble in Mindanao

eskrimakaliarnis.com · Nov 23, 2009

Philippines in shock over 'gruesome massacre'

At least 21 people were killed—some of them beheaded—in a poll-related violence, just hours after they were kidnapped in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao, an official said.

Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Lt. Col Romeo Brawner said the decapitated bodies were found scattered, some buried, in Barangay (village) Salman Ampatuan in Maguindanao.

Most of the victims, abducted around 10:45 am Monday (November 23), were identified with Vice Mayor Toto Mangudadatu who is reportedly running for governor in 2010.

Reports said among the casualties were Mangudadatu’s wife.

Thirteen of the victims were women, Brawner said.

Brawner said this incident is election-related, adding that the camp of Mayor Datu Unsay Ampatuan might be involved in the massacre.

"Mayor Ampatuan. This is an election-related violence," said Brawner in a phone interview when asked about who could possibly be behind the killings.

Yahoo! Southeast Asia is still trying to get Ampatuan’s side as of this writing.

Meanwhile, Brawner said they are still trying to confirm reports that some journalists were among the fatalities.

Brawner added the death toll might increase because “the vice mayor believes everyone [who were kidnapped] were killed.”

Brawner said security has been beefed up in the area of the kidnappings. “We have increased forces to ensure peace and order will remain,” he added.
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eskrimakaliarnis.com · Nov 23, 2009

More on this terrible atrocity:

Cayton said he could not yet confirm who carried out the killings.

But armed forces spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner said earlier that gunmen linked to a powerful politician had seized 40 people, including his political rivals and 20 local journalists.

He confirmed afterwards that 21 people had been killed -- 13 of them women -- and that the death toll was likely to rise.

"We believe more bodies are buried in the ground and we are trying to recover them," he said in an interview with the ABS-CBN television network.

Among those taken were the wife of a mayor in Maguindanao province, Esmael Mangudadatu, his aides and supporters, according to Brawner.

The journalists were accompanying Mangudadatu's group to a local elections office to file his candidacy for governorship of the predominantly Muslim Maguindanao province in the May 2010 vote when they were seized by the gunmen.

The Mangudadatu clan is known to have a long-running feud with the family of Maguindanao's incumbent Governor, Andal Ampatuan, who police say is known to control his own private army.

Before the reports of the death, Brawner said there were about 100 gunmen, most of whom were militiamen deputised as government guards by Ampatuan's family.

Brawner said earlier the leader of the militiamen who staged the kidnapping was one of Ampatuan's sons. Ampatuan was not immediately reachable for comment.

Esmael Mangudadatu's brother, Khdadafeh, also blamed Ampatuan.

"We suspect Ampatuan as being behind this," he told Agence France-Presse.

"His son, Andal Ampatuan Jnr, is supposed to run for governor and he had already made an earlier announcement that we would be killed if [Esmael] filed the candidacy for governor."

Revenge killings and clashes among rival political families are common in Maguindanao and other parts of Mindanao island, where unlicensed firearms proliferate and parts of which are lawless.

The Philippines is also regarded as one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists.

However, the scale of such a slaughter sent immediate shock waves through the country.
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PG Michael B · Nov 23, 2009

The killing season arrives...election time in the Philippines...if you can't win it, buy it..if you can't buy it, kill it....Politics in the PI is a dangerous game.

citom · Nov 25, 2009

The death toll is now 57..
I weep for my country..

eskrimakaliarnis.com · Nov 25, 2009

More news on this terrible atrocity.

Arrests expected soon....Journalists Massacre worst ever...

The death toll grew Wednesday after 11 more bodies were recovered from a rural area of Mindanao, where the remains were hastily buried. Arroyo has declared Wednesday a national day of mourning.

The number of people kidnapped and killed remains unclear as the recovery continues at the mass grave site in Maguindanao.

The Philippine government is under intense pressure to find the culprits responsible for planning and carrying out the abduction and killings of politicians, lawyers, journalists and reportedly some bystanders.

Suspicion has fallen on the Ampatuan family, a key ally of the Arroyo administration in the Maguindanao region of the southern Mindanao province.Ampatuan family members have not commented on the allegations.

Remonde appeared to blame the Ampatuan clan, adding: "There is, however, a move now by the administration party to expel the suspected clan."
Those killed include the wife and two sisters of a politician who plans to run for the spot vacated next year by Maguindanao's governor, Andal Ampatuan. The investigation is ongoing, but a spokesman for the country's national police said the governor's son, Andal Ampatuan Jr., a local mayor, has been linked to the crime, according to media reports.
"According to the initial reports, those who were abducted and murdered at Saniag were initially stopped by a group led by the mayor of Datu Unsay [Andal Ampatuan Jr.]," National Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina said, according to ABS-CBN News.No effort has been spared to bring justice to the victims and hold the perpetrators accountable.

The massacre is the worst politically motivated violence in recent Philippine history. On Monday morning, about 100 gunmen stopped a convoy carrying supporters and family members of politician Ismael "Toto" Mangudadatu, witnesses and officials said.
Mangudadatu had sent his wife and sisters to file paperwork allowing him to run for governor of Maguindanao in May after he faced threats if he filed papers himself. He said the threats came from the governor's allies.

One car traveling behind the convoy was mistaken for being a part of the politician's contingent, a local official told the Philippines GMA News Network. The car was heading to a hospital, according to Tom Robles, head of the Tacurong City Employees Union, who spoke to GMA News. The driver and four passengers -- including a government employee, who had suffered a mild stroke, and his wife -- were rounded up and killed along with the convoy ahead of them, Robles said.

A police official confirmed that the car and bodies of three passengers were among those recovered at the grave site, GMA reported. At least 12 journalists were among the victims, according to the press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders, making Monday the deadliest single day for journalists anywhere in the world.

Both the Ampatuan and Mangudadatu clans have agreed to participate in the government's investigation, according to Arroyo's adviser on the Mindanao region, Jesus Dureza, who spoke to the Philippine media Tuesday.

The region is bracing for a backlash of possible reprisal killings. The government has placed Maguindanao and its surrounding regions under a state of emergency, and survivors of massacre have entered a government witness-protection program, according to the state-run Philippines News Agency.

Arroyo has sent officials to Maguindanao to "oversee military action against the perpetrators of the dastardly acts," she said Tuesday. "No effort has been spared to bring justice to the victims and hold the perpetrators accountable to the full limit of the law," she said.

Long-running family disputes in the southern Philippines have spilled blood before. Such blood feuds are known by the indigenous term "rido." But Monday's massacre has broader implications, Philippine analyst Kenneth E. Bauzon said.

"I think that this is a culmination for many years of impunity on the part of any family -- or group, for that matter -- because this has been tolerated by the Arroyo administration," said Bauzon, a political science associate professor at St. Joseph's College in New York. He's from Mindanao and has authored books on the region and its politics.

"So when the administration looks the other way when journalists report on military abuses [or] when the administration looks the other way when church workers are assassinated, when environmental workers are assassinated or abducted, you know, this [massacre] is just one or two steps away" from that.

The killings could further damage the political reputation of Arroyo, whose administration has been scarred by allegations of a tainted election in 2004 and criticism over her response to recent typhoons.

"It's a test as to what how far the Arroyo administration will go to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators," Bauzon said.

Arroyo's term ends in May, and she cannot seek re-election, but there has been speculation she could seek another political office.

Maguindanao is part of an autonomous region in predominantly Muslim Mindanao, which was set up in the 1990s to quell armed uprisings seeking an independent Muslim homeland in the Philippines, a predominantly Christian country.

Negotiations between one of those armed groups, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and the Philippine government broke down last year after the country's Supreme Court blocked a proposed peace deal that would have increased the size and scope of the autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao.

Arroyo's government exercises little control in the region, and critics blamed her for helping legitimize many of the armed groups that operate freely in Mindanao.
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Carol · Nov 25, 2009

What terrible news

Thoughts and prayers to all :bow:

sjansen · Nov 26, 2009

Isn't the Phillipines a democracy? Sure doesn't look like it. Whenever leaders running for election are killed during elections that should mean reelections with those that were elected through force not being able to run. Basic democracy in action. If those in power can take the election by force, it is not democracy, but a dictatorship. Whether it by national or local.

eskrimakaliarnis.com · Nov 26, 2009

The elections haven't even started yet...

They were just going to register the candidacy.

I think it transcends beyond politics as you have to be pretty sick to both order and carry out what they did to the deceased. Lets hope they are apprehended and measures taken so it doesn't happen again.

citom · Nov 26, 2009

The main suspect has been "turned over" to the authorities and is now in custody at the National Bureau of Investigation Headquarters in Manila.
Naturally, he denies all charges.
The problem is that his clan is a very close political ally of the incumbent President, Gloria Arroyo.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8379990.stm

Philippine massacre suspect held
A member of a powerful clan suspected of involvement in the killing in the Philippines of 57 people faces multiple murder charges, prosecutors say.
Andal Ampatuan Jr, a local mayor, surrendered to the authorities but denied organising the killings.
Troops and police swooped on towns run by the Ampatuan clan, arresting 20 men suspected of links with the killings.
The massacre happened on Monday, when a convoy of vehicles used by a rival politician was ambushed.
The passengers were taken to a remote hill region, shot at close range and their bodies dumped in shallow graves.
Militia disarmed
Mr Ampatuan Jr - mayor of Datu Unsay town - was taken by helicopter from his hometown in the restive Maguindanao province on Thursday morning to the nearby airport at General Santos City. From there he was flown to the capital Manila for questioning.
"It's not true," Mr Ampatuan Jr said when asked by reporters at General Santos City airport whether he had been involved in the massacre.
Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuno said he would file murder charges against Mr Ampatuan Jr on Friday, Associated Press news agency reported.
The military said the Ampatuan family had voluntarily handed over Mr Ampatuan Jr to officials, including Jesus Dureza, an adviser to the president.

About 20 other suspects, including senior members of the Maguindanao's provincial police force and officers of Ampatuan township's force, are in custody and being investigated.
Police also rounded up and disarmed a 350-member militia force under the control of the Ampatuan clan, on Thursday.
Other members of the militia allegedly involved in the killings had fled and are being hunted in the hills of Maguindanao province.
The Philippines authorities have been coming under increasing pressure to bring the perpetrators of Monday's attack to justice, according to the BBC's South East Asia correspondent Rachel Harvey.
The Ampatuan clan have been loyal supporters of the president - but since the killings, Mr Ampatuan Jr, his father and his brother Zalday have been expelled from her party.
President Arroyo, who earlier declared a national day of mourning, has promised that the gunmen would not escape justice.
Clan tensions
Philippine politician Ismael Mangudadatu has claimed it was gunmen loyal to the Ampatuans who ambushed his supporters as they were travelling to register his name for the polls.
Among the dead were Mr Mangudadatu's wife, his two sisters and several key supporters, as well as at least 18 journalists who were travelling with them to witness his registration as an election candidate.

Between 10 and 15 motorists who witnessed the ambush were also among the victims, news agencies said.
The Ampatuans have effectively been in charge of Maguindanao for decades, analysts say.
Andal Ampatuan Sr has served in the Philippines Congress and won the governorship of Maguindanao unopposed for several terms.
His son was reportedly planning a similarly unopposed run to replace his father when Mr Mangudadatu decided to contest the office.
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arnisador · Dec 5, 2009

Martial Law Declared in Philippine Province After Massacre

Government officials say President Gloria Arroyo suspended civil rights in Maguindanao province Saturday, allowing troops to make arrests without warrants.

Philippine officials have put a southern province under martial law and have arrested the patriarch of a powerful clan following last week's massacre of 57 people.

Government officials say President Gloria Arroyo suspended civil rights in Maguindanao province Saturday, allowing troops to make arrests without warrants.
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Lawyers to question martial law imposition before SC

Two past presidents think President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is overacting. Many lawmakers also say that her move is an overkill. And now, human rights lawyers claim that the decision of the chief executive to impose martial law in Maguindanao is not only unconstitutional, but could also violate civil liberties, and thus should be challenged in court.
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