Philippine politician who lost wife, relatives in massacre of 57 people files candidacy papers

Filipino who lost wife in massacre files candidacy

AMPATUAN, Philippines — The Philippine politician whose wife and relatives were among 57 people massacred in an apparent bid to stop him from running for governor filed his candidacy papers Friday, vowing only his death could stop him.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, said two holidays mean they have to wait until Tuesday to file murder charges against the main suspect, Andal Ampatuan Jr., the scion of the clan that has ruled southern Maguindanao province for years.

Ampatuan turned himself in Thursday under threat of military attack against his family’s compound. He maintained his innocence as he was brought to a Manila jail.

Witnesses in government custody will testify that Ampatuan was present Monday when local security forces and militiamen under his command stopped the caravan carrying the family of Ampatuan’s political rival Ismael Mangudadatu, his supporters and journalists, said Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera.

They were all massacred and buried in mass graves dug by a backhoe.

The victims included Mangudadatu’s wife and two sisters. After having received death threats, he sent his female relatives to submit his candidacy papers, hoping that women would be spared the kind of violence that regularly reigns in the region.

More than 20 women were among the slain, and the pants of some female victims were unzipped and lowered, Devanadera said, based on video from the scene. Police said, however, that autopsies were not finished and allegations of rape were not substantiated.

Asked about whether rapes may have taken place, Devanadera told the AP: “We have to be guided by forensic and autopsy reports.”

It is also common among women in the south to hide money on their bodies in case they are held up.

An undeterred Mangudadatu registered his candidacy for upcoming elections Friday, escorted by soldiers, a police commander, a senior army general and hundreds of supporters in a 50-vehicle caravan that took the same route as Monday’s ambushed convoy.

“Only death can stop me from running,” he declared while submitting his documents to the Elections Commission in the Maguindanao provincial capital of Sharrif Aguak.

Along a highway, groups of people waved at the cars and raised their thumbs and clenched their fists in approval. But inside Shariff Aguak, a stronghold of his political rivals, the Ampatuans, the mood was different. There were no enthusiastic crowds and only a few pedestrians.

“This symbolizes our freedom. I hope this will be the start of our liberation,” said Mangudadatu, wearing a red striped T-shirt and jeans. He proudly held up his certificate of candidacy in front of reporters and hundreds of followers, who applauded and cheered him, shouting “Allahu Akbar!” or God is great.

Ampatuan was expected to be charged Friday but all government offices were closed for a Muslim holiday. Monday is a national holiday.

“These are exceptional circumstances which are not of our doing,” Devanadera told The Associated Press.

Asked by reporters if he was involved in the killings, Ampatuan said, “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.”

He later blamed a commander of a large Muslim separatist group for the massacre. Eid Kabalu, spokesman for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is engaged in peace talks with the government, said the guerrillas had nothing to do with the killings.

Devanadera also said there is no evidence of rebel involvement.

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

After the massacre Monday, Arroyo’s ruling party expelled Ampatuan from their ranks, along with his father and a brother, while Arroyo vowed justice for the victims.

But with only seven months left in office before she steps down after nine years, few think she will be able to restore the rule of law in the chronically restive region that has been outside the central government’s reach for generations. Maguindanao’s acting governor is Sajid Ampatuan, another son of former Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., the clan’s patriarch.

He won his first term as governor in 2001, and went on to beat two opponents in the 2004 election. He ran unopposed in 2007.

Apart from Ampatuan, 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 nearly 400 militiamen were in custody, but not all were considered suspects.

The suspected police officers “forgot that they should defend the Republic of the Philippines, not their Godfather,” Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said.

Devanadera said one witness in the Justice Department’s custody was among the gunmen and claimed he saw Ampatuan order the killings.

“One of them was one of those armed men. He saw the carnage,” Devanadera said.

Asked whether the witness saw Ampatuan firing his weapon, she said, “Yes.”

Ampatuan told reporters from his detention cell that at the time of the massacre he was at the municipal hall in Datu Unsay township, where he’s the mayor.

Mangudadatu said earlier four witnesses under his protection told him they saw Ampatuan flagging down the caravan. The four were able to turn back and escape unnoticed, Mangudadatu told the AP.

One witness “saw the gunmen stop the convoy and saw Andal Ampatuan slap my wife,” he said.

At least 22 journalists working for newspapers, TV and radio stations in the southern Mindanao Island region were among the dead — the most reporters killed in a single attack anywhere in the world, according to media groups.

Associated Press writers Oliver Teves, Teresa Cerojano and Hrvoje Hranjski in Manila contributed to this report.