Monday, November 30, 2009
LATEST AND MOST GRUESOME MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE PICS RELEASED. (www.watwatworld.com last and final video on this issue)
8:29 PM
This video will remind the government that having too much power in the hands of a few is dangerous.
This will remind the lawmakers - legislators - congressmen - that laws are more important than pork barrels..
This will remind the judiciary that justice is applicable to both rich and poor.
This will remind the world that tolerating the existence of warlords, political dynasties, and private armies are not in any way helping the common people and that they have their own personal laws over and above the constitution.
In sad times like this, the people rely on the equal protection and application of the laws. I just hope that the privileges like hospital arrests cannot be extended in gruesome cases like this.
Please be advised when watching. Do not let your children watch this video.
Latest news on the witnesses:
At least three witnesses in the mass killing of 57 people in Maguindanao have pointed to Datu Unsay town mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. as one of the armed men that intercepted the convoy of the Mangudadatus last November 23. They claimed that they were on board the cars that had been trailing the convoy led by the Mangudadatu women on that fateful day.But when they entered Ampatuan town, the convoy was flagged down by gunmen in what seemed to be a checkpoint. The witnesses saw “many police cars.".
Philippines: The Maguindanao Massacre
Monday, 30 November 2009, 1:02 pm
Press Release: Asian Human Rights Commission
Philippines: How Could The 'Maguindanao Massacre' Been Allowed To Happen?
("We don’t care about it, we don’t know about it" – the Acting Head of the Provincial Police)
As it has been widely reported, 57 people-including two human rights lawyers and 30 journalists - were slaughtered on November 23 in Maguindanao, a province in central Mindanao. While much of the stories and worldwide condemnation focused on the number of, and manner of the deaths - describing them as gruesome, barbaric and animalistic amongst others things, the Filipino people, even in this country's war-torn southern part, still grapple in disbelief as to how it could have happened.
It is incomprehensible, not only to the Filipino people, but the international community as to how, in an area with a modicum of governance and law enforcement and the right to the protection of life could have been so easily dismissed in a democratic state. How is it possible that a group of over 100 armed men, reportedly led by a scion of a powerful political clan, the Ampatuans, blocked a convoy of vehicles of over 50 people in broad daylight, took them to a remote hilly area, executed them and then buried them in shallow graves?
There were indications that the massacre was premeditated and thoroughly planned; for example, the graves where the 57 dead bodies had been buried had already been excavated using a government-owned backhoe. Its engine was still running when the soldiers arrived at the scene of the massacre after they had received reports of the incident. When the soldiers arrived, dead bodies littered the scene, vehicles used in the convoy were riddled with bullets and three of the vehicles had been flattened and buried together with the dead bodies. (Photo: Concepcion “Connie” Brizuela, lawyer, victim; source: Inqiurer.net)
Before the massacre happened, some journalists had already received information that should they persist in covering the filing of Certificates of Candidacy of (CoC) of Esmael Mangudadatu, they would be killed and buried. However, because they were given assurance by Alfredo Cayton, commanding general of the Army's 6th Infantry Division, that they could push through telling them that area is safe, the group decided to proceed. The group also had seriously discussed matters on security arrangements for two hours before leaving. It was unfortunate though that organisers and the group of journalists may have underestimated the situation. Threats of this nature are common in this part of the country.
Mangudadatu is a bitter political rival of one of Ampatuan's scions, Andal Ampatuan Jr, incumbent town mayor of Datu Unsay, a town named after him by his father, Andal Ampatuan Sr., who is also the incumbent provincial governor of Maguindanao. The younger Ampatuan is now considered the prime suspect in the slaughter, according to witnesses. After his arrest on Thursday, November 26, he is being held in detention at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Manila.
The carnage left Esmael's wife, Genalyn; his two sisters, Eden and Farida Sabdula; several of his political supporters; two human rights lawyers, Concepcion Brizuela and Cynthia Oquendo; and 30 journalists dead. Brizuela and Oquendo were assisting Mangudadatus' wife, Genalyn, to file the CoC on behalf of her husband at the provincial election office in Maguindanao while the journalists were covering the would-be filing. The event, in the local context, would have been a big story for local journalists as the filing was an act upon which the Mangudadatus, also a powerful political clan in the adjacent province, Sultan Kudarat, would be challenging the Ampatuans for a gubernatorial post.
The younger Ampatuan is reported to have been groomed by his father to run as governor for the May 2010 general elections. The elder Ampatuan is the close ally of the Philippine President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her party; and had served as the governor of Maguindanao, a province under the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), for three consecutive terms as governor. Three of Ampatuans’ political leaders were expelled from the President's political party because of the massacre.
The Ampatuans and the Mangudadatus are bitter rivals and powerful political clans in the local politics. In this southern part of the country, the notion of governing for the 'common good of constituents, good governance, rule of law and human rights and democracy' has hardly ever existed. The politicians' motivation in running for public office is for protecting their territory, expanding their influence and cementing their de facto absolute control into the affairs of the local government--from the civilian administration, to the security forces. The security forces were there to serve the local political elite, rather than enforcing law and order.
In Shariff Aguak, the capital of Maguindanao, the display of wealth and power can be illustrated by the huge palaces that these political leaders of the province have built, dwarfing the town and shanties of their constituents. The province is one of the poorest in Mindanao, and is a long term recipient of foreign development aid. The constituents in remote municipalities have been for decades victims of massive protracted displacements, killings and abductions and summary executions either by the government or military forces in the decades-old conflict in Mindanao. Thus, the people's threshold to violence is higher than other place, but the extent of this massacre is, even for them difficult to comprehend.
That the alleged mastermind, the younger Ampatuan, was reported to have been able to command and have given the order to kill the victims is well established and illustrates the local government's policy in funding, training and recruiting militia forces. The Civilian Volunteer Organisation (CVO) is one of the government's militia forces and is also accused of having been involved in the Maguindanao massacre. The functioning of the CVO should have been under the control and oversight of the Philippine National Police (PNP); however, the existing system is so heavily politicized, effectively making the police authorities underdogs of the politicians.
The top local executive has the authority to expel, appoint and recommend, for example, who should be the head of the provincial police and the head of the town police. The local executives also decide whether or not the local police and its security unit should be given budget allocations from the local government's coffer for their operation. This deliberately brings the policemen and security units under the politician's control and influence. The extent of the policemen's control by the politicians has been affirmed and shown when Esmael, upon learning of the massacre, was told by the acting head of the Maguindanao provincial police when he sought his assistance that: "Wala kaming paki-alam d'yan, hindi namin alam 'yan (“We don’t care about it, we don’t know it”).
After the massacre, the PNP had to relieve six of its top officials in Maguindanao for their alleged complicity--the chief of police of Shariff Aguak and Ampatuan towns and three other police inspectors from their position. According to the PNP though, they are not yet considered as suspects, but reports indicate that one of them, was seen by the witnesses to be present at the scene when the victims were executed. Also, it would be difficult to accept that these top policemen would not know of the presence of heavily armed men in their area of jurisdiction. The national highways of these towns where the convoy passed also had check points of only few hundred meter distance from one place to the other - either set up by soldiers, policemen or militia forces - thus, it is hard to believe that they would not know of the movement of armed men, unless they were complicit or had been co-opted.
When the convoy was blocked and the victims subsequently executed, reason dictates that the victims may have thought the perpetrators would not do such horrendous acts. They unfortunately walked to the grave virtually blindfolded for reasons that their numbers and composition - there were over 50 of them mostly women – that the town mayor who was the prime suspect, the government's militia forces and armed civilians; and the policemen, who were seen by witnesses at the crime scene were all present.
The killing of 30 journalists, mostly local journalists, is the largest number of deaths in a single incident in the Philippines' recent history. It has virtually crippled the press freedom in this part of the country. The fight for press freedom and right to information itself is a notion that local journalists had struggled to fight for. Before the massacre, some of the journalists who were reporting on the corrupt practices of the government officials in these provinces were themselves subjected to threats. At least two journalists had already been killed in the past, one of whom was Marlene Esperat in October 2006 in Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat. (Photo: journalist victims, from left to right: Marites Cablitas, Gina Dela Cruz and Marife Montaño; source MindaNews)
As one of the eyewitnesses to the massacre said, they were just following orders when the alleged mastermind ordered them to shoot and kill not only the relatives of the Mangudadatus but also the human rights lawyers, the journalist; and all of those who had joined the convoy. This eyewitness had come out in an exclusive television interview but is said to have gone into hiding. There are also several other persons who had witnessed and survived the massacre but are too frightened to come forward.
The plight of the witnesses and the survivors also exposed the realities of the absence of any protection mechanism within the country. At least three of the journalists who survived the massacre sent feelers out to the Department of Justice (DoJ) informing them of what information they had to help the investigation and prosecution of the case, but they (the DoJ) paid no attention, according to the survivor's family. Like the eyewitness, these survivors too had to take their own security measures to protect themselves. It is also not practical to seek for a police escort since one of the policemen relieved from his post was once assigned in the survivors' hometown; and given the small community of journalists there--who often covers the police and military beats--even without exposing their names, those who want them dead know where they can be located.
Also, how could the survivors consider asking for police protection when, in fact, prior to covering the filing of CoCs the Mangudadatus, had already sought police and military protection. Such request was rejected. The military had to excuse themselves saying they were unable to provide escorts because their troops were deployed somewhere and that providing escorts is primarily a police duty; while the policemen to whom the group had sought security escort for the convoy turned out to have reportedly were complicit or had taken part to the massacre.
About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOUR PRESIDENT-CANDIDATE WILL WIN?
8:52 PM
2010 Philippine elections presidential candidatesWhat will happen if a particular candidate will become the next President of the Philippines? If this is YOUR president, then you are responsible for whatever actions and decisions that he makes.
This is an article from a critique point of view.
AT THE END OF THE DAY, if your president will win and he acts not according to your expectations... you will be the one to be blamed. If the country falls apart, you blame yourself. Remember, in this election period, NOTHING SEEMS TO BE TRUE and EVERYTHING SEEMS TO BE RIGHT. In tagalog: Lahat ng kadidato mabait kasi may kailangan sila sa iyo, pero pagkatapos ng election, hinde ka nila kilala.
Young guns, young terror, ( PCIJ investigation in Maguindanao )
3:37 PM
Sidebar
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
ALL OVER the world, the practice of engaging children and teenagers in criminal gangs and private armies continues unabated. The Philippines is no exception.
A little-known academic study documents how minors are being recruited down south in private armies better known as civilian volunteers organizations or CVOs. These groups help keep village adults in a perpetual state of fear and obeisance, even if some of the “volunteers” have not moved past puberty.
The 80-page study was conducted across a five-month period in 2003 by researchers led by Agnes Zenaida Camacho of the University Center for Integrative and Development Studies (UCIDS) at the University of the Philippines.
It focused on three towns of Maguindanao and the use of minors by the pagali or clan to keep itself in power. The researchers interviewed 10 young CVO members, who had to be assigned pseudonyms in the report, for their own protection.
Most of the young CVO members were recruited into the armed group as replacement for their fathers who had been killed in action, the researchers learned. Of the 10 interviewees, only two were 18 years old at the time they started working for a pagali. One interviewee was drafted into CVO service when he was only 10 years old, and the seven others, in their early teens.
UCIDS noted that while the CVOs were organized to assist in defending towns against insurgents, “in certain parts of the Philippines, local politicians are reportedly heavily arming and using members of CVOs in their respective localities as private armies.”
An unpaid family loan to the pagali compelled one child to join the CVO. Yet when he was ready to pay, the pagali head, a mayor, gave the child a gun and ordered him to kill someone before his payment would be accepted. Left with no choice, the child said he did as he was told.
Disobedience entails serious punishment. “Failing to follow orders to murder a pagali enemy is punishable by death,” the researchers said.
For most of the interviewees, however, conscription into the CVO unfolds as a slow process. The new entrants are given small jobs at first, like escorting members of the clan when they venture outside their homes. The recruits do this with issued firearms in tow. Once their loyalty and adherence to the code of silence is proven, they are inducted into “malalaking lakad (big jobs),” mainly involving crime, the researchers said.
“From the interviews with the children, these range from kidnapping, extortion, instigating displacement, murder, torture, and drug trafficking,” the report said.
Among the most benign activities that the CVO members said they did was to collect P20 from vehicles passing the highway. There are other tasks. An interviewee said he was assigned to a pagali’s marijuana plantation near the province’s marshlands.
Others said they served in the pagali’s “business” ventures, including dealing in shabu or metamphetamine hydrochloride, and doubled as dealers. The report said the illegal trade reached as far as General Santos City, Davao City, and Manila, the report revealed.
To one interviewee, these transactions explain how a pagali could afford to live it up. “How do you think they are able to afford a mansion or luxury cars?” the interviewee asked.
The report unravelled more details. “Another child interviewee said that the pagali in his area, a mayor, conducted ‘operations’ or raids against selected areas particularly after the rice harvesting season — to steal the crops after the residents of the target areas had evacuated their homes and farms.”
“I guess that’s why some CVOs have gotten used to stealing,” the researchers said, quoting one of the interviewees as saying. “When you think about it, the mayor is really behind everything.”
The UCIDS study abound with even more gruesome stories, notably one told by “Rudy,” who was recruited into a CVO unit when he was 17.
A scion of the pagali had been killed in a bomb blast, and soon after, three teenagers suspected of involvement were brought to the compound of another son of the clan’s chief.
The three suspects met tragic deaths. “One was killed using machetes, while another was peppered with bullets,” the UCIDS report said Rudy had recounted. “The eldest of the youths suffered the worst: his limbs were cut off using a chain saw.”
The CVO members were directed to put salt in the suspect’s wounds and then “(they) cut parts of his body with a chain saw while he was still alive,” Rudy had narrated. The CVO members present were later instructed to dump the suspects’ bodies in a nearby river.
What might well pass for a culture of keeping armed men could be likened to “pagali dictatorship,” according to the researchers. Apart from ensuring the clan’s dominance, it accords a pagali an aura of machismo.
By their reckoning, the researchers said that the higher the position of an official, the more armed men he commands, but most especially if he is the leader of the clan or occupies an important position in the pagali.
Yet for all the unwholesome duties they perform for the pagali, CVO members collect paltry pay. Their salaries vary, with some receiving P1,000 a month, and others, P3,000.
On occasion, when the pagali boss is feeling generous, they get a bonus of rice and clothes.
Rudy, however, has not been as blessed with such windfall. In fact, he said that for a long time, he did not get whatever benefits he was supposed to. And months after he was interviewed by the UCIDS researchers, Rudy was killed in a encounter between soldiers and separatist rebels. He was 25.
Still and all, the “chainsaw story” he told the researchers has somehow outlived Rudy. By all indications, he had evolved into a legend of sort in Maguindanao.
When the PCIJ visited recently, some village folk said they know who were behind the gruesome murders and where these happened. Advisedly, they said that they are too scared to go on record on this story or they might be the next ones to hear the buzz of a chain saw.
Read Full Story...
Young guns, young terror
Thursday, September 4th, 2008Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
A little-known academic study documents how minors are being recruited down south in private armies better known as civilian volunteers organizations or CVOs. These groups help keep village adults in a perpetual state of fear and obeisance, even if some of the “volunteers” have not moved past puberty.
The 80-page study was conducted across a five-month period in 2003 by researchers led by Agnes Zenaida Camacho of the University Center for Integrative and Development Studies (UCIDS) at the University of the Philippines.
It focused on three towns of Maguindanao and the use of minors by the pagali or clan to keep itself in power. The researchers interviewed 10 young CVO members, who had to be assigned pseudonyms in the report, for their own protection.
Most of the young CVO members were recruited into the armed group as replacement for their fathers who had been killed in action, the researchers learned. Of the 10 interviewees, only two were 18 years old at the time they started working for a pagali. One interviewee was drafted into CVO service when he was only 10 years old, and the seven others, in their early teens.
UCIDS noted that while the CVOs were organized to assist in defending towns against insurgents, “in certain parts of the Philippines, local politicians are reportedly heavily arming and using members of CVOs in their respective localities as private armies.”
An unpaid family loan to the pagali compelled one child to join the CVO. Yet when he was ready to pay, the pagali head, a mayor, gave the child a gun and ordered him to kill someone before his payment would be accepted. Left with no choice, the child said he did as he was told.
Disobedience entails serious punishment. “Failing to follow orders to murder a pagali enemy is punishable by death,” the researchers said.
For most of the interviewees, however, conscription into the CVO unfolds as a slow process. The new entrants are given small jobs at first, like escorting members of the clan when they venture outside their homes. The recruits do this with issued firearms in tow. Once their loyalty and adherence to the code of silence is proven, they are inducted into “malalaking lakad (big jobs),” mainly involving crime, the researchers said.
“From the interviews with the children, these range from kidnapping, extortion, instigating displacement, murder, torture, and drug trafficking,” the report said.
Among the most benign activities that the CVO members said they did was to collect P20 from vehicles passing the highway. There are other tasks. An interviewee said he was assigned to a pagali’s marijuana plantation near the province’s marshlands.
Others said they served in the pagali’s “business” ventures, including dealing in shabu or metamphetamine hydrochloride, and doubled as dealers. The report said the illegal trade reached as far as General Santos City, Davao City, and Manila, the report revealed.
To one interviewee, these transactions explain how a pagali could afford to live it up. “How do you think they are able to afford a mansion or luxury cars?” the interviewee asked.
The report unravelled more details. “Another child interviewee said that the pagali in his area, a mayor, conducted ‘operations’ or raids against selected areas particularly after the rice harvesting season — to steal the crops after the residents of the target areas had evacuated their homes and farms.”
“I guess that’s why some CVOs have gotten used to stealing,” the researchers said, quoting one of the interviewees as saying. “When you think about it, the mayor is really behind everything.”
The UCIDS study abound with even more gruesome stories, notably one told by “Rudy,” who was recruited into a CVO unit when he was 17.
A scion of the pagali had been killed in a bomb blast, and soon after, three teenagers suspected of involvement were brought to the compound of another son of the clan’s chief.
The three suspects met tragic deaths. “One was killed using machetes, while another was peppered with bullets,” the UCIDS report said Rudy had recounted. “The eldest of the youths suffered the worst: his limbs were cut off using a chain saw.”
The CVO members were directed to put salt in the suspect’s wounds and then “(they) cut parts of his body with a chain saw while he was still alive,” Rudy had narrated. The CVO members present were later instructed to dump the suspects’ bodies in a nearby river.
What might well pass for a culture of keeping armed men could be likened to “pagali dictatorship,” according to the researchers. Apart from ensuring the clan’s dominance, it accords a pagali an aura of machismo.
By their reckoning, the researchers said that the higher the position of an official, the more armed men he commands, but most especially if he is the leader of the clan or occupies an important position in the pagali.
Yet for all the unwholesome duties they perform for the pagali, CVO members collect paltry pay. Their salaries vary, with some receiving P1,000 a month, and others, P3,000.
On occasion, when the pagali boss is feeling generous, they get a bonus of rice and clothes.
Rudy, however, has not been as blessed with such windfall. In fact, he said that for a long time, he did not get whatever benefits he was supposed to. And months after he was interviewed by the UCIDS researchers, Rudy was killed in a encounter between soldiers and separatist rebels. He was 25.
Still and all, the “chainsaw story” he told the researchers has somehow outlived Rudy. By all indications, he had evolved into a legend of sort in Maguindanao.
When the PCIJ visited recently, some village folk said they know who were behind the gruesome murders and where these happened. Advisedly, they said that they are too scared to go on record on this story or they might be the next ones to hear the buzz of a chain saw.
Why Andal Ampatuan Jr. Thought He Could Get Away With It
3:29 PM
The Maguindanao Massacre
Why Andal Ampatuan Jr. Thought
Sunday, November 29th, 2009
THE BODY count of the Maguindanao Massacre has gone up each of the past five days. The count is now at 57, with authorities continuing to sift through the blood-soaked dirt just outside the town of Shariff Aguak. Thirty of the victims were journalists and at least twenty-two were women. The women were raped and their genitals shot at close range.
Expect the numbers to change in the coming days. What will likely not change is the identity of the accused mastermind of the killings: a smug, round-faced blip of a man named Andal Ampatuan Jr., a local mayor and the son of a powerful political patriarch who is allied with no less than the president of the Philippines.
The suspect reportedly ordered the massacre to prevent a rival politician from challenging him in the upcoming gubernatorial election. According to at least twenty eyewitnesses who have testified to the Department of Justice, it was Ampatuan’s plan to ambush the caravan of six cars, kill all the occupants and then bury the victims and their vehicles in large pre-dug pits. Burying the victims, he thought, would erase the evidence.
Ampatuan actually believed he could get away with it. But the plan went awry when word spread that army soldiers were in the area and the attackers panicked, leaving a half-buried massacre scene. So frenzied were those last moments that even the operator of the government backhoe used to dig the pits was reportedly killed to minimize witnesses.
Word trickled out and by Tuesday the whole world knew about the Nov. 23 massacre. For the rest of the week officials have filled the airwaves and front pages with their horrified reactions but it doesn’t take a telepath to know that some of the “horror” was for the benefit of the international audience.
For those not familiar with contemporary life in the Philippines, it must be pointed out that political violence here is a norm, and that people like Andal Ampatuan Jr. are no aberration. There are many more like him scattered like vermin droppings throughout the country. The system creates Ampatuans.
The reason Monday’s incident became international news is because of the high number of victims killed all at once and because so many were journalists and women. Had the killings been spread out over weeks and months, very few outside of the province would have heard of it.
“The massacre in Maguindanao may stand out for a long time for its brazenness, but the forces that shaped it are by no means isolated or peculiar to Muslim Mindanao,” writes Randy David in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. David is a sociology professor at the University of the Philippines. “These forces lurk in many regions of our country….”
I’m in the Philippines to work on a poverty-related media project called Suriin Ang Kahirapan or Audit of Poverty. One of the aims is to create a network of citizen journalists in the country’s five poorest provinces. Maguindanao is one of the Suriin provinces.
In all five of the Suriin provinces, there is a dynastic political family like the Ampatuans and a hatchet man – or two or three – like Andal Ampatuan Jr. Until Monday, none have been foolhardy enough to slay all their enemies in one fell swoop. The usual modus operandi is to knock them off one at a time and as quietly as possible.
For instance, in the Suriin province of Masbate, an island north of Mindanao, there have reportedly been as many as 30 politically related murders over the past year, and many of the killings can be tied to one family that has been in power for years. All know the name but no one will say it out loud. Who would dare? Like in Maguindanao, most of the local police and military take their orders from the ruling family. Those who have dared cross family members end up shot on some lonely stretch of gravel, their corpses no more than road kill. Hardly anyone on the outside knows – or cares – about the killings in Masbate.
In Maguindanao, the Ampatuans have controlled local politics for most of the decade, and the current governor, Andal Ampatuan Sr., had been grooming his son to take over his post. The Ampatuans had grown accustomed to running unopposed in local elections, so terrified were potential opponents.
So when one rival announced he would oppose Ampatuan for the governorship, the clan was incensed. The heretic, a local vice mayor named Esmael Mangudadatu, sent his wife and two sisters – accompanied by a retinue of lawyers and journalists – to the county seat to file his certificate of candidacy, apparently believing that not even the Ampatuans would murder women in cold blood. It was this caravan that was intercepted and massacred. Some of the victims reportedly were forced to eat filing documents before they were shot.
Ampatuan family members “act like gods” in Maguindanao, Leila de Lima told the Armed Forces of the Philippines. De Lima, chairwoman of the Philippines Commission on Human Rights, said there have been similar, but smaller-scale killings, linked to the Ampatuan family, but up until now witnesses have been afraid to come forward.
Today, Ampatuan sits in a Manila jail awaiting further proceedings. He was persuaded to turn himself in on Thursday by an emissary sent by President Gloria Arroyo herself. Many believe the administration was forced to act because of overwhelming international pressure. The emissary, special advisor Jesus Dureza, accompanied Ampatuan on government aircraft all the way to Manila where, upon parting, Dureza and Ampatuan shook hands and hugged.
Can you imagine the president of the United States sending an ambassador to negotiate with a man suspected of wiping out 64 people, and then having that ambassador accompany the suspect on private aircraft to the nation’s Capitol where they say good-bye with a hug? A hug!? Can you imagine President Clinton providing red-carpet treatment to Branch Davidian leader David Koresh or Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh?
The Ampatuans have long been coddled by officials high in government. The Ampatuans were well-known allies of Arroyo, and have been photographed together with the president in various locations including Malacanang (the equivalent of the White House). The Ampatuans “delivered” Maguindanao province to Arroyo in the last election, and did so with frightening efficacy, signing up entire towns and villages – often with not a single dissenting vote.
The administration, in return, has taken a hands-off approach to Maguindanao. Provincial officials, for example, can choose their own police chiefs and officers, many of whom end up as bodyguards or hitmen. These officials also end up using taxpayer money, intended for anti-terrorist programs, to deputize and arm groups of mercenaries officially known as Civilian Volunteer Officers, or CVOs. The end result is that people like Ampatuan have created their own private armies and rule their territories like warlords.
It came as a surprise to no one that among those implicated in Monday’s massacre are all of Ampatuan’s CVOs, and nearly all of the highest ranking police and military officers in the province. Already their courtroom defenses have become apparent in the few interview snippets that have gone public: They were only following orders. Of course.
Ampatuan and his family hobnobbed with the president. His father was a three-term governor and his brother a governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, of which Maguindanao is a part; his relatives were mayors of half the towns; he was insulated and protected by local police, and he had his own mercenary army to do his bidding in a far-flung region populated by poor and illiterate farmers. Ampatuan believed he could get away with it because he’d been groomed all his life to think so.
There are many others like him in the country’s 83 provinces, rogues with government titles who believe they’ll never be caught. And most of them will be right. – PCIJ, November 2009
Alex Tizon is working with the PCIJ on a crowd-sourcing project that will help media track government efforts to alleviate poverty in the country’s five poorest provinces, including Maguindanao. As national correspondent of The Los Angeles Times, he has reported on the war in Iraq and Hurricane Katrina, and as staff writer for The Seattle Times from 1986 to 2003, received the 1997 Pulitzer Prize in investigative journalism for a series on corruption in the federal Indian Housing Program.
- Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
Read Full Story...
Why Andal Ampatuan Jr. Thought
He Could Get Away With It
Sunday, November 29th, 2009THE BODY count of the Maguindanao Massacre has gone up each of the past five days. The count is now at 57, with authorities continuing to sift through the blood-soaked dirt just outside the town of Shariff Aguak. Thirty of the victims were journalists and at least twenty-two were women. The women were raped and their genitals shot at close range.
The suspect reportedly ordered the massacre to prevent a rival politician from challenging him in the upcoming gubernatorial election. According to at least twenty eyewitnesses who have testified to the Department of Justice, it was Ampatuan’s plan to ambush the caravan of six cars, kill all the occupants and then bury the victims and their vehicles in large pre-dug pits. Burying the victims, he thought, would erase the evidence.
Ampatuan actually believed he could get away with it. But the plan went awry when word spread that army soldiers were in the area and the attackers panicked, leaving a half-buried massacre scene. So frenzied were those last moments that even the operator of the government backhoe used to dig the pits was reportedly killed to minimize witnesses.
Word trickled out and by Tuesday the whole world knew about the Nov. 23 massacre. For the rest of the week officials have filled the airwaves and front pages with their horrified reactions but it doesn’t take a telepath to know that some of the “horror” was for the benefit of the international audience.
For those not familiar with contemporary life in the Philippines, it must be pointed out that political violence here is a norm, and that people like Andal Ampatuan Jr. are no aberration. There are many more like him scattered like vermin droppings throughout the country. The system creates Ampatuans.
The reason Monday’s incident became international news is because of the high number of victims killed all at once and because so many were journalists and women. Had the killings been spread out over weeks and months, very few outside of the province would have heard of it.
“The massacre in Maguindanao may stand out for a long time for its brazenness, but the forces that shaped it are by no means isolated or peculiar to Muslim Mindanao,” writes Randy David in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. David is a sociology professor at the University of the Philippines. “These forces lurk in many regions of our country….”
I’m in the Philippines to work on a poverty-related media project called Suriin Ang Kahirapan or Audit of Poverty. One of the aims is to create a network of citizen journalists in the country’s five poorest provinces. Maguindanao is one of the Suriin provinces.
In all five of the Suriin provinces, there is a dynastic political family like the Ampatuans and a hatchet man – or two or three – like Andal Ampatuan Jr. Until Monday, none have been foolhardy enough to slay all their enemies in one fell swoop. The usual modus operandi is to knock them off one at a time and as quietly as possible.
For instance, in the Suriin province of Masbate, an island north of Mindanao, there have reportedly been as many as 30 politically related murders over the past year, and many of the killings can be tied to one family that has been in power for years. All know the name but no one will say it out loud. Who would dare? Like in Maguindanao, most of the local police and military take their orders from the ruling family. Those who have dared cross family members end up shot on some lonely stretch of gravel, their corpses no more than road kill. Hardly anyone on the outside knows – or cares – about the killings in Masbate.
In Maguindanao, the Ampatuans have controlled local politics for most of the decade, and the current governor, Andal Ampatuan Sr., had been grooming his son to take over his post. The Ampatuans had grown accustomed to running unopposed in local elections, so terrified were potential opponents.
So when one rival announced he would oppose Ampatuan for the governorship, the clan was incensed. The heretic, a local vice mayor named Esmael Mangudadatu, sent his wife and two sisters – accompanied by a retinue of lawyers and journalists – to the county seat to file his certificate of candidacy, apparently believing that not even the Ampatuans would murder women in cold blood. It was this caravan that was intercepted and massacred. Some of the victims reportedly were forced to eat filing documents before they were shot.
Ampatuan family members “act like gods” in Maguindanao, Leila de Lima told the Armed Forces of the Philippines. De Lima, chairwoman of the Philippines Commission on Human Rights, said there have been similar, but smaller-scale killings, linked to the Ampatuan family, but up until now witnesses have been afraid to come forward.
Today, Ampatuan sits in a Manila jail awaiting further proceedings. He was persuaded to turn himself in on Thursday by an emissary sent by President Gloria Arroyo herself. Many believe the administration was forced to act because of overwhelming international pressure. The emissary, special advisor Jesus Dureza, accompanied Ampatuan on government aircraft all the way to Manila where, upon parting, Dureza and Ampatuan shook hands and hugged.
Can you imagine the president of the United States sending an ambassador to negotiate with a man suspected of wiping out 64 people, and then having that ambassador accompany the suspect on private aircraft to the nation’s Capitol where they say good-bye with a hug? A hug!? Can you imagine President Clinton providing red-carpet treatment to Branch Davidian leader David Koresh or Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh?
The Ampatuans have long been coddled by officials high in government. The Ampatuans were well-known allies of Arroyo, and have been photographed together with the president in various locations including Malacanang (the equivalent of the White House). The Ampatuans “delivered” Maguindanao province to Arroyo in the last election, and did so with frightening efficacy, signing up entire towns and villages – often with not a single dissenting vote.
The administration, in return, has taken a hands-off approach to Maguindanao. Provincial officials, for example, can choose their own police chiefs and officers, many of whom end up as bodyguards or hitmen. These officials also end up using taxpayer money, intended for anti-terrorist programs, to deputize and arm groups of mercenaries officially known as Civilian Volunteer Officers, or CVOs. The end result is that people like Ampatuan have created their own private armies and rule their territories like warlords.
It came as a surprise to no one that among those implicated in Monday’s massacre are all of Ampatuan’s CVOs, and nearly all of the highest ranking police and military officers in the province. Already their courtroom defenses have become apparent in the few interview snippets that have gone public: They were only following orders. Of course.
Ampatuan and his family hobnobbed with the president. His father was a three-term governor and his brother a governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, of which Maguindanao is a part; his relatives were mayors of half the towns; he was insulated and protected by local police, and he had his own mercenary army to do his bidding in a far-flung region populated by poor and illiterate farmers. Ampatuan believed he could get away with it because he’d been groomed all his life to think so.
There are many others like him in the country’s 83 provinces, rogues with government titles who believe they’ll never be caught. And most of them will be right. – PCIJ, November 2009
Alex Tizon is working with the PCIJ on a crowd-sourcing project that will help media track government efforts to alleviate poverty in the country’s five poorest provinces, including Maguindanao. As national correspondent of The Los Angeles Times, he has reported on the war in Iraq and Hurricane Katrina, and as staff writer for The Seattle Times from 1986 to 2003, received the 1997 Pulitzer Prize in investigative journalism for a series on corruption in the federal Indian Housing Program.
- Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
Amid the fighting, the Ampatuan clan rules in Maguindanao
3:24 PM
Public Eye
Amid the fighting, the clan rules in Maguindanao
by Jaileen F. Jimeno, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
Thursday, September 4th, 2008
MAGUINDANAO — The sound of sirens precedes the passing of a long convoy of 4×4 sport utility vehicles. As if on cue, jeepneys and private vehicles begin moving to the right side of the street, where they all then ground to halt.
“Kailangan tumabi ka, kasi babanggain ka nila. Palalabasin nilang kaaway ka (You have to get out of their way, otherwise they’ll hit your car. And then they’ll make it appear you’re one of their enemies),” explains an old man watching the scene by the roadside.
Asked if he knows whose convoy of black, heavily tinted vehicles is whizzing by, the man replies without hesitation: “Si Governor. Ganyan ang mga sasakyan niya (That’s how his vehicles look like).”
In the last two weeks, this southern province has become one of the sites of a serial cat-and-mouse battle between soldiers and rebels from a faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), displacing thousands of people. But the armed clashes aside, residents here know that only one family wields real power in Maguindanao: the Ampatuans, led by its acknowledged patriarch, Governor Andal Ampatuan.
It may not only be peace between combatants but respite from political clans that Maguindanao needs.
The Ampatuans are just the latest in a long line of political dynasties that have endured in Mindanao. Yet while the Ampatuan clan has lorded over Maguindanao only since 2001, several of its members have already managed to grab key government positions, elective and appointive, and not only in the province itself. (see Table)
In 2005, Andal Ampatuan’s son Zaldy, then 38 years old, became the governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the youngest ever to head the regional government.
And if the results of the recent AMMM polls are any indication, the Ampatuans seem to be digging in for the long haul. The baby-faced Zaldy took more than 90 percent of the votes among seven candidates in the ARMM elections held just a few weeks ago. His closest rival Indanan Mayor Alvarez Isnaji got just a tad over two percent of the votes.
It did not help Isnaji any that he was battling kidnapping charges filed by the Philippine National Police (PNP) against him and his son Haider, midway through the campaign. But Ma. Krizna Gomez of the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) observes: “We were all surprised to not see any election campaign materials (other than Zaldy Ampatuan’s) around the province. The dynasty runs deep into the entire political set-up and this is capped by the election result itself.”
Guns, Palace blessing
Andal Ampatuan has four wives and over 30 children, and intermarriages with other political clans have made his political stock stronger. But political analysts trace the clan’s formidable clout to two main factors: guns and the blessings of Malacanang. They even note that no less than the Palace made it legal for the Ampatuans to have hundreds of armed men and women under their employ.
The 1987 Constitution bans private armed groups. In July 2006, however, the Arroyo administration issued Executive Order 546, allowing local officials and the PNP to deputize barangay tanods as “force multipliers” in the fight against insurgents. In practice, the EO allows local officials to convert their private armed groups into legal entities with a fancy name: civilian volunteer organizations (CVO).
Interestingly, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo issued the EO just weeks after a bombing in the Shariff Aguak public market that killed five people. Andal Ampatuan, who has survived several other ambushes, was said to have been the target.
According to a military officer who served for 16 years in ARMM — five of them in Maguindanao — Andal Ampatuan employs about 200 CVO members. The officer adds that Ampatuan’s sons and relatives maintain armed men, supposedly for their protection. (Andal’s eldest son Saudi was killed in a bomb blast in Shariff Aguak 2002.)
“Everybody carries firearms, mga paltik (homemade guns),” says the military officer. “Or (they) either borrow from the military or the PNP, or they buy.”
A soldier who spent five years on assignment in Maguindanao says of the CVOs here: “They support the internal security requirement of the capitol or the municipio.” He adds that while some of the CVOs are paid by the local government in areas where they serve, they are often “borrowed” for personal use by local officials.
And whenever they board the back of spiffy pickups that are staples of Ampatuan convoys, these CVO members typically lug long firearms. At times, the convoys of 20 vehicles or more also begin and end with pickups mounted with big machine guns.
Indeed, long before the military resumed chasing the MILF in earnest across the region, Maguindanao was already dotted with checkpoints. Soldiers manned entrances to municipal halls, and armored vehicles hogged major road networks.
PCIJ tried for months to interview Andal Ampatuan here and during his visits in Manila, but Maguindanao provincial administrator Norie Unas repeatedly said the governor does not grant interviews. Instead, it has been Unas who has fielded questions from PCIJ.
In an interview with PCIJ late last year, Unas said that the older Ampatuan’s political stance has earned his clan several enemies, hence the need for heightened security. Unas explained that while previous Maguindanao leaders played footsies with secessionist forces, “Governor Ampatuan is not really sympathetic to the MILF or other forces wishing for a separatist Muslim state.”
But Datu Michael Mastura, former congressman of Maguindanao’s first district, seems less than convinced by the argument. “I will tell you, the word ‘impunity’ does not even suit it. It’s inappropriate,” he says, referring to the Ampatuans’ chronic show of force. Pointing to the clan’s numerous bodyguards and vehicles, Mastura wonders aloud: “Just imagine, how do you maintain them? How do you house them?”
No one here is ready to come forward with any answers to that, but at the very least, the presence of armed men and women helps explain why residents would rather not do anything to cross an Ampatuan. One journalist who unwittingly did is certainly thankful that all he got was a dressing-down from the provincial governor.
The journalist had helped a colleague get in touch with the Ampatuans for an article that the governor apparently perceived to be unflattering. The helpful journalist says he was summoned to the governor’s mansion and there received a tongue-lashing. “I just sat there,” he recalls, “and took it, not saying a word.”
‘Hello, Garci’ then 12-0 in ‘07
To some political analysts, it is easy to explain why the Ampatuans command solid hold on Maguindanao: The clan enjoys close ties with the Palace in faraway Manila, simply because the clan has managed to deliver the votes for administration candidates.
In its 2007 Elections Forensics Report, the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) noted: “The Ampatuan dynasty based in Maguindanao province is Arroyo’s present conduit in helping ensure her influence over the whole of Mindanao, which hosts many of the country’s grizzled but otherwise powerful political clans.”
During the 2004 presidential elections, “(Governor Andal) Ampatuan addressed the political requirement of Arroyo,” says Bobby Tuazon, CenPEG’s director for policy study, publication, and advocacy. “She needed somebody to control the votes.”
In the controversial “Hello Garci” recordings, then elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano was heard saying that Maguindanao would not be “much of a problem” for President Arroyo. His words turned out to be more than prophetic, with Maguindanao giving Arroyo 193,938 votes, against the 59,892 votes obtained by popular action film star Fernando Poe Jr. In Ampatuan and Datu Piang towns, Poe even scored zero, and in the capital Shariff Aguak and other Maguindanao towns, received just a handful of votes.
In the 2007 congressional and local elections, the 12 senatorial candidates of the administration’s Team Unity slate made a clean sweep of the polls in Maguindanao, or scored 12-0, to be exact. Family members and allies of the Ampatuans who ran for local positions also clinched wins.
Maguindanao officials have since brushed off suspicions of election fraud, saying local candidates did not bother campaigning for their own seats. They say that “negotiations” were held before the elections to “amicably” settle the battle for positions. Besides, they note, many of the Ampatuan candidates had run unopposed and thus had devoted time to campaign for the administration’s senatorial slate.
In his interview with PCIJ last year, Maguindanao provincial administrator Unas said political contests here are settled even before any balloting through “consultation and consensus-building.”
“People are critical of our system and ridicule us for the manner by which we choose our leaders,” he said. But, he asserted, it is a system that works for the province, “not that demo-democracy.”
“We know that the Manila system does not fit us,” Unas said. “We have stabilized the political landscape because there’s no contest every election. This is one better way for us Muslims coming out with our leaders.”
CenPEG fellow Ely H. Manalansan Jr., however, insists that shura or the Islamic practice of consultation was not a factor in Team Unity’s 12-0 win in Maguindanao. He says that even Islamic experts dismiss such an assertion, adding, “(It) merely serves as a justification for the widespread and systematic fraud perpetrated by the administration during elections in Mindanao.”
Last year, public schoolteacher Musa Dimasidsing had also revealed that days before the 2007 vote, he had seen teachers and students writing and then putting their thumbmarks on ballots. Days after he spoke up, Dimasidsing was shot dead; his murder remains unsolved.
No ‘Big Man’ monopoly
CenPEG’s Tuazon, though, cautions against stereotyping this conduct of elections as unique to Maguindanao and ARMM. “Oligarchs also rule in Luzon and Visayas, and you will see a lot of similarities in what is happening there in the Moro homeland,” he says.
“Ampatuan is no different from (Luis) Chavit Singson,” points out Fr. Eliseo Mercado Jr., who briefly chaired the government peace panel with the MILF. Singson, former governor of Ilocos Sur in northern Luzon, has built a reputation for keeping an iron grip on his home province.
Unas himself acknowledges the perception that Ampatuan is a warlord. Reached by phone by PCIJ recently, he said, “May katotohanan din siguro. The same way na may perception na warlord sina Joson (of Nueva Ecija) at Singson, (Probably there’s truth to that. The same way there is a perception that the Josons and the Singsons are warlords).”
But the provincial administrator denied that the capitol pays for the CVOs protecting Ampatuan and his clan. He said that the CVOs are hired and funded by town mayors, while those who guard the governor are made up of soldiers, policemen, and civilians “who, as Muslims, will die for their leader.”
This relationship between leaders and the governed, said Unas, has its roots in the history of Muslim communities down south, and is found not only in Maguindanao.
Poverty, mega projects
In Mercado’s view, the resiliency of the Ampatuan clan will rest mainly on its ability to deliver the needs of its constituents. Then again, if Mercado is right, the Ampatuans’ days in power may be numbered, based on the province’s sorry showing in several sectors.
For one, despite the Ampatuans’ expanded powerbase, Maguindanao’s poverty numbers are worsening. In 2000, the poverty incidence was recorded at 59.3 percent. It grew to 60.4 percent in 2003, and rose further to 62 percent in 2006, turning Maguindanao into the third poorest province in the country.
For another, Maguindanao’s spending for education remains low, even as the elementary teacher-to-pupil ratio has worsened to 51 in school year 2005-06, from 43.9 in school year 2000-01.
These bad statistics are among the reasons why, according to the Philippine Human Development Report (PHDR) of 2005, only 39.7 percent of adults in Maguindanao have six years of basic education, compared with the national average of 84 percent.
Too, the PHDR reveals that Maguindanao has the second lowest life expectancy in the Philippines at 52 years, edged out only by Tawi-Tawi’s 51.2 years. The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) reports as well that the number of health stations in the province has remained stagnant at 163, from 2000 to 2006.
Amid worsening poverty and education services for its population of 600,000 as of last year, Maguindanao has been pouring money into new town halls and a bigger capitol. The latter is now estimated to cost the province about P116 million, or nearly twice as much as the original price tag of P60 million.
According to Unas, Andal Ampatuan had asked President Arroyo for help in funding the new capitol project. Arroyo, Unas said, committed an initial P20 million, paving the way for construction work to start.
The renovation project has since evolved into a government center that will feature other huge structures, including a sports-and-culture center that would cost P80 million.
Maguindanao is not lacking in funds. On top of benefiting from foreign and ARMM-funded projects, it received an internal revenue allotment (IRA) of P555 million in 2005, which grew to P633 million the following year.
Yet of the P590 million budget the capitol lined up for 2006, P124 million or 21 percent was set aside for the provincial governor’s office alone. Over P185 million or 31 percent, meanwhile, went to the salaries and benefits of the capitol’s 587 employees.
The people’s view
The people in Maguindanao offer a common opinion of Andal Ampatuan as “mabait (a good person).” One resident says, “If you need a job, he’ll provide one for you.” Another intones, “We don’t say no to him because he takes care of us.”
But such positive comments almost always come with a caveat: “Basta sundin mo ang gusto niya (As long as you do as he says).”
“He is like a pharaoh, that’s what people call him,” says Mastura, himself a member of one of Mindanao’s prominent families. “You don’t go against his wishes.”
The one person who has tried to keep the Ampatuans in check, albeit in his own turf, is Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
Over the years, Duterte, who is known for his tough stance against crime, has repeatedly warned various clans — not only the Ampatuans, to be sure — against “misbehaving” in Davao City. But Duterte has also zeroed in on younger Ampatuan scions for using sirens whenever they drive around Davao. In 2006, Duterte let it rip when three Ampatuan youths were arrested in his city for possession of high-powered firearms, including rifles fitted with telescopic sights, and rounds of ammunition.
“Davao City is not your kingdom,” a fuming Duterte had reportedly said. “If you want to show off, you better do it in your place, not here.”
Unfortunately for Duterte, Maguindanao has no known nightlife to keep privileged youths entertained and occupied.
Once the sun sets in this province, the roads turn empty, save for one or two vehicles rushing to their destinations, and the occasional convoy of huge, black cars and pickups flashing their lights and sounding their sirens. Invariably, the convoy carries an Ampatuan as passenger.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Maguindanao Massacre ( Ampatuan Massacre ), Philippine Election Violence. Part I of II
5:03 AM
A video showing the story behind the massacre. The killing and the arrest of the alleged mastermind. WARNING: VERY GRAPHIC AND DISTURBING VIDEO PHOTOS. Do not let your kids see the pictures. Part I of II. Visit www.watwatworld.com
Cadaver hunt in Maguindanao massacre ends
MANILA, November 28, 2009 (AFP) - Police have ended a grisly search for corpses and mass graves from an election-linked massacre in the southern Philippines, with the known death toll standing at 57, officials said Saturday.
The authorities dismissed several news reports that quoted a police official saying he had counted 64 bodies from the slaughter just off a farming road in the province of Maguindanao on Mindanao island.
"We ended the search yesterday," Senior Superintendent Bienvenido Latag, the police chief of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, told reporters by telephone.
"We have 57 bodies in our official list. Of course we are still checking and if there are reports of more bodies we will verify those. But so far, the information that we have is that the total has not changed."
Chief Superintendent Josefino Cataluna, the police chief of central Mindanao, also confirmed the toll.
The last 11 were pulled out from two adjacent mass graves on Wednesday, including five who were entombed along with three vehicles, police said.
The government has charged a local official in the area, Andal Ampatuan Jr., with ordering and taking part in the killings. He surrendered to police Thursday and has been flown to Manila where he was detained.
On Friday Ampatuan Jr. was indicted of ordering his private militia of more than 100 gunmen to open fire on the group, which included relatives of rival Muslim politician, Esmael Mangudadatu, some journalists and passing motorists who had no known quarrel with the gunmen.
Ampatuan Jr. is a mayor in the southern Philippines who until this week was an ally of President Gloria Arroyo and a member of her ruling coalition.
Eight other members of the powerful Ampatuan clan have been invited for police questioning after witnesses also linked them to the killings.
The relatives and the journalists had been travelling to an election office to nominate Mangudadatu to run against Ampatuan Jr. for the post of provincial governor in next year's elections.
Read Full Story...
MANILA, November 28, 2009 (AFP) - Police have ended a grisly search for corpses and mass graves from an election-linked massacre in the southern Philippines, with the known death toll standing at 57, officials said Saturday.
The authorities dismissed several news reports that quoted a police official saying he had counted 64 bodies from the slaughter just off a farming road in the province of Maguindanao on Mindanao island.
"We ended the search yesterday," Senior Superintendent Bienvenido Latag, the police chief of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, told reporters by telephone.
"We have 57 bodies in our official list. Of course we are still checking and if there are reports of more bodies we will verify those. But so far, the information that we have is that the total has not changed."
Chief Superintendent Josefino Cataluna, the police chief of central Mindanao, also confirmed the toll.
The last 11 were pulled out from two adjacent mass graves on Wednesday, including five who were entombed along with three vehicles, police said.
The government has charged a local official in the area, Andal Ampatuan Jr., with ordering and taking part in the killings. He surrendered to police Thursday and has been flown to Manila where he was detained.
On Friday Ampatuan Jr. was indicted of ordering his private militia of more than 100 gunmen to open fire on the group, which included relatives of rival Muslim politician, Esmael Mangudadatu, some journalists and passing motorists who had no known quarrel with the gunmen.
Ampatuan Jr. is a mayor in the southern Philippines who until this week was an ally of President Gloria Arroyo and a member of her ruling coalition.
Eight other members of the powerful Ampatuan clan have been invited for police questioning after witnesses also linked them to the killings.
The relatives and the journalists had been travelling to an election office to nominate Mangudadatu to run against Ampatuan Jr. for the post of provincial governor in next year's elections.
Maguindanao Massacre ( Ampatuan Massacre ), Phillipine Election Violence Part II
4:56 AM
A video showing the story behind the massacre. The killing and the arrest of the alleged mastermind. WARNING: VERY GRAPHIC AND DISTURBING VIDEO PHOTOS. Do not let your kids see the pictures. Part II
The alleged mastermind is locked up at the NBI detention center. However, Almost all Filipinos are looking forward to the arrest of the other culprits. Accordingly, there were more than 100 men who participated in the mass murder, they should all be arrested and face charges. No man can just kill someone even at the orders of a superior unless otherwise justified by law. If we allow ruthless killings on orders of mere individuals trying to play the role of god, then this world we live in will crumble down back to the dark ages.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Maguindanao Massacre News: Philippine mayor ordered massacre
5:06 PM
Andal Ampatuan Jnr, a mayor in the lawless southern Philippines who until this week was an ally of President Gloria Arroyo and a member of her ruling coalition, was charged with seven counts of murder, the government said.
"He was the one who gave the instructions. He was among those... who killed the victims," Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera told reporters as she outlined the case against Ampatuan Jnr.
She indicated more charges would likely be laid against him and others, saying the process of filing cases had only just begun.
Devanadera also revealed the suspect's father, the leader of the Ampatuan clan and governor of Maguindanao province, was among eight other members of the powerful family under investigation and not allowed to leave the country.
An emotional Devanadera earlier on Friday gave the most detailed official account yet of Monday's election-linked massacre, saying the female victims may have also been raped.
"It was horrible. I cannot begin to describe it," Devanadera told the GMA television network, recounting what she had seen of the bodies as well as the testimony of many of those who had taken part in the killings.
Devanadera said the witnesses told prosecutors that Ampatuan Jnr ordered his private militia of more than 100 gunmen to open fire on the group of people on a remote farming area in Maguindanao province.
The gunmen had a short time earlier abducted a convoy of aides and relatives of a rival Muslim politician, Esmael Mangudadatu, plus a batch of local journalists.
The group had been travelling to an election office so Mangudadatu's wife could nominate him to run against Ampatuan Jnr for the post of provincial governor in next year's elections.
Fifty-seven bodies have since been recovered from shallow graves in the killing fields close to a town bearing the Ampatuan name.
At least 22 of the victims were women, police said earlier.
Twenty-seven victims were journalists and 15 were motorists who were driving past the area at the wrong time, all of whom were apparently killed to elimEinate witnesses.
Ampatuan Jnr, who surrendered to authorities on Thursday, has denied any involvement and blamed Muslim rebels for the killings. Aged in his 40s, he faces life in jail as the Philippines does not have the death penalty.
Devanadera said many of those who took part in the massacre were clear that Ampatuan Jnr was at the scene of the murders, ordered them to open fire and even shot people himself.
Devanadera said some of those who took part in the killings had come forward because of the guilt they felt.
"They were bothered by their conscience," she said, while emphasising many had given testimony against their former boss and not just one.
She said the group of more than 100 gunmen included soldiers and policemen.
Devanadera painted a gruesome picture of the fate of the women at the hands of the marauding militia.
"Even the private parts of the women were shot at. It was horrible. It was not done to just one. It was done practically to all the women," she said.
"All the women had their zippers undone. The pants of some were pulled down... We have yet to determine whether they were raped. But it is certain that something bad was done to them."
Maguindanao is part of Mindanao island, where Muslim clans rule vast areas backed by their own private armies, often out of the national government's control.
Ampatuan Snr had been grooming his son to take over as governor of Maguindanao. The victims' relatives alleged the Ampatuans organised the murders so that Mangudadatu would not run for that post.
Mangudadatu, whose wife and pregnant sister were murdered in the massacre, on Friday lodged his nomination for governor, ironically for Arroyo's ruling coalition just two days after the Ampatuans had been expelled by the coalition.
"Only death can stop me from running," Mangudadatu told reporters
Friday, November 13, 2009
Edu Manzano is Gibo's Vice President
10:54 PM
Here are some comments on Edu as a vice presidential bet:
"Pilipinas! game ka na ba? ha? ha? ha? ha?" - nanie
"haaaa????? I'm veeeeery surprised!!!!!" - maridon
"Lights!!!! Camera!!! Action..... Take.. 1 lols" - clarrence
"Edu Manzano's record in as optical media board chief speaks for itself. wala syang karapatan na tumakbo bilang pangalawang pangulo. he should stick to what he does best... do movies and host game shows." - jonathan
"Oh c'mon. Kinda big joke huh. "- connie
"It's funny, I think he's desperate to find someone who would help him build up his name. They're not even known by old folks in the cordillerans." - lydia
"why n0t!give him a chance(edu manzan0)dats ol." - melow
"not much is know of Edu's leadership I guess...and so is Gibo's except for his DND sec stint" - chris
"This coming election is lacking in well-rounded leaders to vote for. I don't mind a leader that get's rich, just as long as he/she gets the Job done right." - ben
"sabi ni gibo magaling at matalino xa then why Edu...desperate move by the admin or a dangerous move to place in puppets?" - edmarie
"definitely NO..we can't just let them play the game coz the future of our country is at stake..it's too much to take the risk..we've been through a lot and we all know the consequences..we, the people, have the power to make things right so i say we should use it wisely and responsibly.." - emanon
"The trouble about actors is they don't live in the real world, they live in the fantasy world of coocoo land. So..... how do we know for sure! they are capable of running a country?! This is not a game! This is not a movie! This is real! This are people's live we're talking about.! OUR CHILDREN'S FUTURE!!!!" - flora
"This is a losing alternative that would pull Gibo lower... Sayang si Gibo kung ang vice niya is somebody like Edu only. Come on admin, is this all you can get/offer for the Filipinos at a time we need really judicious leaders, come onnnnnnn!! "- benny
"its not about competency (in choosing edu). its more on choosing someone who can increase the popularity of gibo who is languishing at the bottom ratings. just like in choosing de castro as gma's running mate in 2004." - percival
"Wow. Everybody has a point here and i do agree! I dont reside in Phils anymore but its still my homeland and care about wellbeing of its citizen. Sad to think that these politicians use all kinds of strategy to gain people's votes.For Edu, No, he doesnt have a business running for VP period! What does he know?" - daisy
"sayang naman si Gibo! id go for him sana, but i dont like edu for vp "- crystal
"This is some sort of insurance against impeachment, similar to Gloria picking Nol. Some people are hesitant to impeach Gloria as they don't want Noli to take over" - noehl
"no kidding... to balance the tandem, gibo's vice should be a woman or at least come from the visiyas or mindanao." - ruthEven in other forums and social networking sites, Edu is belittled as a person. I pity the guy but he said he's up for the challenge. This will be a very interesting election.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
What Does It Take To Be The President Of The Philippines?
5:28 PM
Here are some comments on the question raised above:
"I think the proper question should be, what does it take to be a great president for the Philippines. Just a thought." - rachel
"The President is not the question. The question is, the family background" - genevieve
"it doesn't have to be a son or a daughter of a former president" - pocahontas
"it takes intelligence, patience, will power, courage to say "NO" to all temptation, courage to bypass "utang na loob", political will, honesty, sincerity and, most of all, true passion to serve - religion, social orientation or heritage should not be a measuring stick" - gigi m.
"well u have to be in showbiz... Hahaha.. Because that's the truth... It's happening in the Phils.. Lolz" - ble s.
"it takes a crap load of money and a bunch of half truths and a good rep works as well" - michael
"popularity.... in reality" - anthony
"sweet tongue... to deceive the ignorant and the innocent..." - hethang
"agpaytruew!!!!! ngem nu local met, if you got the money, you'll get power.." - anthony
"mass appeal and at least P200 million pesos." - ruth
"just choose the lesser of all evils. hmm.. define jaded and cynical" - jeng
"i know it's hard to take care of the nation's problem. i just don't see why these people would want to be in that position. dunno! just an opinion. okay....this is the bottom line. Presidency is a crappy job and who fills it better than foriegners like, maybe ,angelina jolie? no? oh....okay." - maridon
"you should have confidence...dapat may tiwala ka sa sarili mu na kaya mung pamunuan ang buong bansa...pero dapat din makuha mu ang tiwala ng tao sayo...isa pa is he/she have fear in GOD..ung totoo ah..indi lng pkitang tao...ewan...bsta" - danston
"It takes the most number of votes... and the proclamation of the poll body to be come president... may utak man o wala, may k man o wala... mabait o masama... artista man o simpleng fan lang... of course, mas notoriously known lang ang magnanakaw at sinungaling... he he" - jonathan
To become the President, it takes a lot of money in billions, a machinery of hungry leeches, a very good political advertisement in tv, radio, print and a legion of rats... Sorry to say. Almost all of us think the same. We are dismayed with the system and we despise politicians.
It is safe to say that 70% of the new generation of voters are more aware, rebellious against the system, more intelligent and more exposed thanks to technology. Old politicking tactics and ads does not work the same way as before. Blogs, forums, organizations, online media etc are working their way to awareness. To become a President, some may think that they will need billions, leeches and rats... maybe, but it will not be the same as before. Today, remember this day, I will strongly shout to the world that the Filipino voters of this young-new-aware-intelligent-exposed generation will make a difference all throughout! Sadly, we have to choose a President regardless of our negative thoughts, I have no candidate in mind, however, each and every vote is important so choose wisely and vote with honor. la lang.....
Thursday, November 5, 2009
A Story About Political Volunteerism During Elections ( Part 2 of 3 )
5:27 PM
Philippine 2010 Presidential Elections,
A Factual Story:
Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Friendster have become the latest venue for politicians. Candidates create groups, fans clubs, accounts etc all of which are directed to adding a large number of membership simply for political purposes. As I have noticed, Noynoy tops the largest group following in Facebook, followed by Villar then Chiz. In relation to the first part of this post, I'm almost certain that these groups and organizations created online will not last longer than the term of the politician. The owners-moderators of these groups will disappear or worst, use it as an avenue to criticize the winning candidate.
Political ads are always running. However, it seems that being popular for "name recall" purposes is not as useful as before. As I have pointed out in my previous posts, voters of this new generation are more aware and intelligent thanks to technology advances. Political ads are more of an eyesore rather than informative. I have seen so many comments from different forums and blogs about these political ads. And if only these politicians will realize, they are not doing good in the world of the new generation.
Consider this:
Villar - His first political ads were good, but the succeeding ones brought him down making his first ads useless. It's just plain and simple overkill. If you will visit OFW forums, you will see that the OFW community despises how Villar is using them in the ads, saying he did that only for ads purposes. Then he shifted to the kids with paperboard placards, this was worst because he was using kids without any knowledge on politics and have a lot to learn with life. It was disliked. Maybe if he focuses on ads that will show how he did in the senate, his actual plans and programs, then he will earn the respect of the thinking generation.
Noynoy - His political ad is star studded! 14 big names in the showbiz industry was with him passing around the light from the torch. Nothing more to discuss. That's just it. No message.
Chiz - Of all the political ads, his song will stick in the brain. It is a good ad. Even kids in the street are singing "may bagong umagang parating". The consistency of his ad will help him win a portion of the new generation. However, the question whether or not he has actually done something as a Senator remains to be answered.
Erap - His ad is more on presenting his hurt feelings and takes pride that the "masa" is still with him.
At the end of the day, after watching the political circus, the ordinary people suffers the most. But at least in this generation, we are not confined.
Read Full Story...
A Factual Story:
Political ads are always running. However, it seems that being popular for "name recall" purposes is not as useful as before. As I have pointed out in my previous posts, voters of this new generation are more aware and intelligent thanks to technology advances. Political ads are more of an eyesore rather than informative. I have seen so many comments from different forums and blogs about these political ads. And if only these politicians will realize, they are not doing good in the world of the new generation.
Consider this:
Villar - His first political ads were good, but the succeeding ones brought him down making his first ads useless. It's just plain and simple overkill. If you will visit OFW forums, you will see that the OFW community despises how Villar is using them in the ads, saying he did that only for ads purposes. Then he shifted to the kids with paperboard placards, this was worst because he was using kids without any knowledge on politics and have a lot to learn with life. It was disliked. Maybe if he focuses on ads that will show how he did in the senate, his actual plans and programs, then he will earn the respect of the thinking generation.
Noynoy - His political ad is star studded! 14 big names in the showbiz industry was with him passing around the light from the torch. Nothing more to discuss. That's just it. No message.
Chiz - Of all the political ads, his song will stick in the brain. It is a good ad. Even kids in the street are singing "may bagong umagang parating". The consistency of his ad will help him win a portion of the new generation. However, the question whether or not he has actually done something as a Senator remains to be answered.
Erap - His ad is more on presenting his hurt feelings and takes pride that the "masa" is still with him.
At the end of the day, after watching the political circus, the ordinary people suffers the most. But at least in this generation, we are not confined.
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