The Ampatuans of dirt-poor Maguindanao
by Carolyn O. Arguillas/Mindanews
It has been four months since the massacre in Maguindanao, in which the alleged main perpetrators are members of a rich and powerful clan. Until their detention, the principal suspects in the murder of 57 people on November 23, 2009 lived in mansions in the country’s third poorest province, in neighboring cities, and even in Metro Manila.
How they acquired their supposedly fabulous fortune cannot be explained in the documents submitted by the public officials among them. But an unbridled access to public monies may be one of the keys to the puzzle, as is the willingness of national government officials to tolerate even the excesses of a political ally.
Video
by Ed Lingao
This report exposes what population experts call a statistical anomaly with grave implications on the conduct and results of the May 10, 2010 elections the inexplicable sharp spike in the population growth rate of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Photo Gallery
Photos from the petition for bail hearings of the principal accused in the November 23, 2009 Massacre in Ampatuan town, Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr.
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| Posted Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
Alarm bells for May 10 elections?
by Roel R. Landingin
A RECENT conference of the Philippine Population Association had none of the media frenzy that usually attends the ongoing bail hearing for ex-Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., the prime suspect in the massacre of 57 people, including 32 media workers, in Maguindanao last November 23.
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| Posted Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
by Justine Espina-Letargo
THE petition for bail of the principal accused in the November 23, 2009 Massacre in Ampatuan town, Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. took on a new twist Wednesday, February 10. The counsel for the defense, Atty. Philip Sigfrid Fortun, today filed a motion seeking Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 221 to inhibit herself from the proceedings.
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| Posted Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
by Justine Espina-Letargo
HEARINGS on the petition for bail filed by the accused in the Maguindanao massacre began 5 January 5, 2010 before Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 221.
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| Posted Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
by Carolyn O. Arguillas, MindaNews
DAVAO CITY – Only two of the 12 prominent Ampatuans implicated in the November 23, 2009 massacre in Maguindanao are not running for any posts in this year’s elections: Datu Unsay mayor Datu Andal “Unsay” Ampatuan, Jr., and ARMM governor Datu Zaldy Ampatuan. Just as well, their wives and a daughter are running, records of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) show.
by Carolyn O. Arguillas, MindaNews
DAVAO CITY – The Ampatuans, Mangudadatus, Midtimbangs, Sinsuats, Masturas, Sangkis comprise the majority among Maguindanao’s 879 candidates running for 374 posts: two congressional representatives to Congress, one governor, one vice-governor, 10 provincial board members, 36 mayors, 36 vice mayors and 288 municipal board members or councilors.The Ampatuans lead the list of candidates with 50 carrying […]
Sidebar
by Carolyn O. Arguillas, MindaNews
DAVAO CITY – Their leaders may be detained outside Maguindanao but they remain a clan to reckon with in Maguindanao, if we are to base it on the number of candidates running for election or reelection on May 10. The Ampatuans, Sinsuats, Sangkis, Mangudadatus, Pendatuns, Masturas, Midtimbangs, etc.. are fielding candidates for the May 10 polls but the Ampatuans have the highest number at 68, 50 of them carrying the same surname while the remaining 18 use Ampatuan as their middle name.
Fear, terror, poverty mix in Maguindanao
by Ed Lingao
A FEW weeks after the Maguindanao massacre, Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, chief administrator of martial law in the area, received an unusual call on his cell phone.
On the other end of the line was a trusted aide of Datu Zaldy Uy Ampatuan, who was days earlier replaced as governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Zaldy was one of several members of the Ampatuan clan jailed on charges of rebellion, stemming from the November 23 carnage that left at least 57 people dead.
