Prime suspect from powerful clan surrenders in probe of Philippine election massacre

Prime suspect in Philippine massacre surrenders

AMPATUAN, Philippines — A scion of a powerful pro-government clan suspected in the massacre of 57 people in an election caravan in the southern Philippines turned himself in Thursday amid mounting pressure on the president to crack down on lawlessness and warlords.

The dead from Monday’s massacre included at least 18 journalists and the wife, family and dozens of supporters of a gubernatorial candidate who wanted to challenge the rival Ampatuan clan, which has ruled Maguindanao province unopposed for years.

Andal Ampatuan Jr., a town mayor who allegedly stopped the convoy with dozens of police and pro-government militiamen, surrendered to presidential adviser Jesus Dureza in the provincial capital, military commander Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer said.

“The family voluntarily surrendered him and they agreed that he will be investigated,” Ferrer said.

Asked by reporters if he was involved in the killings, Ampatuan, who tried to hide his face with a scarf, replied: “There is no truth to that. The reason I came out is to prove that I am not hiding and that I am not guilty.”

Prosecutors have 36 hours to decide whether to file charges.

“Within 36 hours the prosecutors will resolve the case,” Justice Secretary Agnes Devanedera told reporters in Manila after she arrived with Ampatuan and other officials on board two air force planes from southern General Santos City.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said he had warned Ampatuan’s family they risked a military attack unless they turned him over by midday Thursday.

As a helicopter carrying Ampatuan took off from the Maguindanao provincial capital for General Santos, shots rang out but the aircraft was not hit, Ferrer said. It wasn’t clear who fired the shots.

The Ampatuan clan helped President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her allies win the 2004 presidential and 2007 senatorial elections by delivering crucial votes.

Arroyo’s ruling party, in an emergency meeting late Wednesday, expelled Ampatuan, his father and a brother.

Ampatuan’s surrender followed days of discussions between his family and Dureza, apparently in a bid to prevent hostilities between the clan’s followers and government forces.

The area around the provincial capital was tense after troops disarmed nearly 400 pro-government militiamen loyal to the Ampatuans. Such militias are meant to act as an auxiliary force to the military and police in fighting rebels and criminals but often serve as politicians’ private armies.

The military deployed tanks and truckloads of troops throughout the province under a state of emergency to hunt down the attackers and prevent retaliatory violence from the victims’ clan.

Police and soldiers on Wednesday found 11 more bodies at the site of the attack, bringing the death toll to 57. Six of the bodies were discovered in a large pit, buried alongside three vehicles, and five were found in a nearby mass grave.

The vehicles — a sedan and two vans — were crushed by a large backhoe that ran over and buried them, investigator Jose Garcia said.

Police Chief Superintendent Felicisimo Khu said they did not expect to find any more bodies.

Arroyo has come under intense pressure at home and abroad to seek justice for the victims of the massacre, with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and media and human rights watchdogs voicing their concern over the scale of the killings.

The gubernatorial candidate, Ismael Mangudadatu, had received death threats and sent his wife and relatives to submit his candidacy Monday in the convoy that was ambushed.

Mangudadatu said four people whom he refused to identify told him Ampatuan was seen with the gunmen.

National police director Jesus Verzosa said six senior officers, including the provincial police chief and his deputy, 20 members of Ampatuan township’s police station and 347 militiamen were in custody for the investigation, but that not all were considered suspects.

Arroyo vowed justice for the victims. Few, however, think she will be able to restore the rule of law in the impoverished region that has been outside the central government’s reach for generations, and where warlords backed by private armies go by their own rules. Maguindanao’s acting governor is Sajid Ampatuan, another son of former Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., the clan’s patriarch.

Human Rights Watch expressed concern that the administration’s relationship with the family would hinder an impartial investigation.

Among the 18 dead journalists — the highest number of reporters killed in a single attack anywhere in the world according to media groups — was Alejandro “Bong” Reblando, 53, a former Associated Press stringer. He was the most senior in the group of reporters. Reblando, who was based in General Santos City, was a staffer for the Manila Bulletin newspaper.

He covered the southern Philippines for the AP from the late 1980s to the early 2000s, reporting on the Muslim separatist insurgency as well as local politics.

He is survived by his wife and seven children.