Mansion of mass murder suspects searched again for illegal weapons

A womnan points to a hole where security forces searched for weapons but found nothing inside the sprawling compound of the Ampatuan mansion in Shariff Aguak town in Maguidnanao province. Clan members were accused in the November 23 mass murder of 57 innocent people in Maguindanao's Ampatuan town. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Mark Navales)

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / January 17, 2010) – Security forces searched the sprawling compound of a mansion owned by the powerful Ampatuan clan whose patriarch and sons were implicated in the gruesome murder of at least 57 people in Maguindanao province in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said policemen backed by soldiers were searching for illegal weapons believed buried in the compound in Shariff Aguak town on Saturday.

Their search warrant, however, were limited at a grave yard, where earlier reports said that a huge cache of weapons were buried. No weapons were found.

Security forces have recovered more than 1,000 assorted light artillery and heavy infantry weapons and hundreds of thousands of munitions allegedly owned by the Ampatuan in various areas in Shariff Aguak town since after the murders.

Journalists who were embedded with the security forces during the search noticed that many areas near the graveyard were freshly dug and then covered, raising suspicions that the weapons may had been transferred to other places inside the mansion owned by Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr., whose son and namesake, was accused of masterminding the November 23 massacre in Ampatuan town.

Among those killed were at least 31 journalists who joined a political caravan by Ampatuan’s foe, Buluan town vice mayor Esmael Mangudadatu. His wife and two sisters were also among those brutally murdered.

Police and military implicated both father and son and another Andal’s elder brother, Zaldy Ampatuan, the governor of the Muslim autonomous region to which Maguindanao belongs. Several family members were also linked to the killings, but the Ampatuan clan strongly denied the massacre and pointed to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels as behind the murderous rampage.

Authorities rejected the allegations and filed multiple criminal charges against the Ampatuans and hundreds of supporters. (With reports from Nickee Butlangan and Mark Navales)

Who really are the Ampatuans?: The Manila Times

The name Ampatuan alone connotes holiness. It comes from two words: “Ampa,” which is also Pah in Tausug dialect, is a Malay term for uncle, and “Tuan” means sir. The two words were actually being used to address a religious teacher and over time were combined as “Ampatuan.” The great grandfather of the Ampatuans was Imam Shariff Aguak, a religious leader who helped propagate the Islamic faith in Maguindanao.

Aguak used to pray in one mosque for the Friday congregational prayer and in another the following Friday. He was known to be generous as he would bring dulang or foods for those participating in the congregational prayer.

The present municipality of Shariff Aguak was named after Imam Shariff Aguak. The old name was known as Maganoy, where the mayor during the time of President Ramon Magsaysay was one of the Ampatuans named Datu Salila Ampatuan.

During the time of President Ferdinand Marcos, the mayor of Maganoy was Datu Akilan Ampatuan.

Before the signing of the Final Peace Agreement of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) with the government, Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr., who was then a mass leader of MNLF, was already the mayor of Maganoy until it was renamed.

In 1998, the senior Ampatuan won the election for governor of Maguindanao province against the incumbent Zacaria Candao.

Since then, the province of Maguindanao has belonged to the Ampatuan clan.

Many have tried to wrest control of Maguindanao province, among them Guimid “Jimmy”Matalam, the son of Udtog Matalam, the legendary former governor of the so-called Cotabato Empire, but all failed.

Then came Vice Mayor Ismael Mangudadatu of Buluan, who has stood pat with his decision to go for the leadership of Maguindanao province at all cost. So far, it has cost him the lives of his wife Genalyn and his sisters who were among the victims of the Maguindanao massacre.

The 7th child

Tagged as the mastermind of the massacre is Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. of the municipality of Datu Unsay.
The suspect is the seventh child of the nine children of former Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr. of Maguindanao with his first wife Kagi Laila Uy, more popularly known as “Kagi Limbuan.”

Kagi means hadja, or one who has gone on a pilgrimage to Mecca. She is of a Chinese ancestry of the Uy clan from the nearby Datu Piang municipality.

The 28-year-old Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., more popularly known as Datu Unsay, had gone to college but did not finish his course. He has two legal wives by virtue of Presidential Decree 1083, otherwise known as the “Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines.”

Sources said he married the two women on the same day.

According to a Manila Times source from Shariff Aguak town who requested anonymity, Andal Ampatuan Jr. got the nickname of “Datu Unsay” from a faith healer named Datu Unsay. During his childhood the mayor was sickly and it was Datu Unsay who was able to heal him.

Since then, he preferred to be called “Datu Unsay” just like his elder brother, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Regional Gov. Datu Zaldy Uy Ampatuan who does not mind being called “Datu Puti,” a popular brand of commercial vinegar in the Philippines.

The source added that in deference to the memory of the faith healer, a municipality was created and named “Datu Unsay.” Andal Ampatuan became the first mayor of this town. He is poised to run reelection in May 2010 for his last term as a municipal mayor.

Friends and relatives of Datu Unsay describe him as soft-spoken and a humble young political leader.

All of the Ampatuan siblings have occupied either elected or appointed posts in government. The eldest son Datu Saudi Ampatuan, who was killed in a bomb explosion a few years ago, was the mayor of Datu Piang municipality. Upon his death, a municipality was created by the ARMM Regional Legislative Assembly and named in his honor. The incumbent mayor of the Datu Saudi Ampatuan municipality is his son Datu Shamron Ampatuan, who got married recently to a Tausug lawyer from Sulu.

The second child is Bai Rebecca Ampatuan, at present the director of finance division of the Regional Legislative Assembly. She is married to her own cousin Mayor Akmad Ampatuan of the municipality of Mamasapano. Akmad is the acting vice governor of Maguindanao province.

Another daughter of the Ampatuan patriarch, the third sibling in a brood of nine, is Kagi Nuria, who is chief of staff of her brother, the ARMM regional governor.

The fourth child is Regional Gov. Datu Zaldy Uy Ampatuan, who is now in his 40s. He is married to a Midtimbang, another strong political clan in the province of Maguindanao. Datu Zaldy is the only ARMM regional governor that was reelected as the rest of the regional governors served only the Muslim autonomous region for one term.

The fifth child is Anuar Ampatuan, the incumbent mayor of the Shariff Aguak town, which is now a host to the provincial government office since the new Maguindanao provincial capitol is located here, a stone’s throw away from the mansion of the Ampatuan patriarch.

It is also in Shariff Aguak where one can find the “little Malacañang” that is an extension office of the
Executive department of the ARMM regional governor. It is here that Regional Gov. Datu Puti holds office everyday, but when attending to guests of high stature from Manila and foreign diplomats, he receives them at the Office of the Regional Governor inside the sprawling Shariff Kabunsuan Complex in Cotabato City.

After Anuar was another brother named Hoffer Ampatuan, who was described as a good-looking guy among the Ampatuans who got married to powerful clan of the famous Sinsuat clan. Unfortunately, he was shot to death while at a party in a disco house in Cotabato City a few years ago.

Another sister named Aloha is somewhat low-key and does not occupy any elective or appointed post.
The ninth child and of course the youngest is Sajid Islam Ampatuan. He is presently the acting provincial governor of Maguindanao province when his father former Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr. was unseated after the Supreme Court rendered the creation of the Shariff Kabunsuan province that was carved out of the mother province of Maguindanao as null and void ab initio.

It was his own brother the ARMM regional governor who appointed him as acting governor so that the delivery of basic services in the province will not be hindered. In tandem with acting Gov. Sajid Ampatuan, is his own brother-in-law, Mayor Akmad Ampatuan of Mamasapano town was also designated by the ARMM regional governor as the acting provincial vice governor.

The High Tribunal decision stated that while the ARMM Regional Legislative Assembly may have the mandate to create provinces, but it is beyond its mandate to create a congressional district. This is because the creation of a new province goes with it also the creation of a congressional district whose mandate only resides upon the Congress of the Philippines and not in the Regional Legislative Assembly itself.

Despite being tagged as the prime suspect in the so-called Maguindanao massacre, Datu Unsay from his detention cell at the National Bureau of Investigation headquarters on Taft Avenue, Manila, has maintained his innocence and denied all accusations leveled against him.

While the people of Maguindanao and the rest of the Filipino nation have already convicted him beyond reasonable doubt for the mass murder of the Mangudadatu siblings and more than a dozen of the members of the Fourth Estate, under the Revised Penal Code, Datu Unsay who is still a suspect and remained innocent of the charges filed against him, can only be held guilty after due process of law has been applied and a guilty verdict has been handed down in Court. (By Julmunir I. Jannaral / Manila Times)


Link: http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/news/regions/6817-who-really-are-the-ampatuans

Maguindanao Massacre Now At 46

Philippine police investigators examine bodies of massacre victims after being recovered from a site in Ampatuan town in the restive province of Maguindanao in the Muslim autonomous region Tuesday, November 24, 2009. Gunmen massacred about 46 political supporters, journalists and lawyers who were on their way to file election papers for Vice Mayor Ismael Mangudadatu of Buluan town who is running for governor in Maguindanao province in next year’s polls. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Mark Navales)

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / November 24, 2009) – Philippine troops have recovered at least 46 bodies from dozens abducted and brutally killed in the restive Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao, officials said Tuesday.

Army Colonel Jonathan Ponce, a spokesman for the 6th Infantry Division, said the bodies were recovered in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao province. He said at least 13 of those killed were journalists and two human rights lawyers.

“The headcount as of 6 p.m. Nov. 24 is 46 cadavers – 21 females and 25 males – and 13 from the media,” Ponce told the regional newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.

Most of the bodies were recovered buried on a village. He said many of the cadavers were decapitated.

Ponce said hundreds of government soldiers were sent Tuesday to hunt down more than 100 gunmen blamed for the gruesome crime. Troops were scouring the mountainous areas in Maguindanao where the gunmen are believed to be hiding.

The armed men were behind the killings of supporters of a Buluan municipal vice mayor Esmail Mangudadatu, his wife and sisters, and journalists who would cover the politician’s nomination for the gubernatorial elections next year.

“We have more than 400 soldiers now hunting down the perpetrators of this crime. We have troops deployed in the towns of Maguindanao to prevent retaliation and more bloodshed,” Ponce said.

At least 17 journalists were killed in the attack, according to the Reporters Without Borders.

The military said at least 30 were shot and beheaded and their bodies recovered late Monday by soldiers in the town of Ampatuan.

Ponce said the soldiers recovered the victims’ five vehicles and were still searching for more bodies in at least two areas in a remote village in Ampatuan town. “Soldiers have recovered the five vehicles – four vans and sports utility vehicle – used by the victims,” he said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, but four people who survived the carnage pointed to the powerful Ampatuan clan as behind the murder, but this could not be immediately confirmed.

Television reports said the four were among dozens of people seized in Shariff Aguak town. Mangudadatu said his wife and sisters were to file his nomination for the gubernatorial elections at the poll office in Shariff Aguak town.

Andal Ampatuan, Jr. is the current governor of Maguindanao province and his elder brother, Zaldy Ampatuan, is the governor of the Muslim autonomous region to which Maguindanao belongs. Both politicians who are allies of President Gloria Arroyo did not give any statement.

GMA television reported that those who survived the murder allegedly tagged both governors in the killings. The four are now in the custody of the Mangudadatus whose families are political rivals of the Ampatuan clan.

The Union of Peoples' Lawyers in Mindanao condemned the brutal killings and identified the slain lawyers as Concepcion Brizuela and Cynthia Oquendo, both members of the group.

“This barbaric mass murder not only indicates the early onset of pre-election violence, but, also shows that the culture of impunity clearly pervades with the existence of warlord-maintained private armies that have long been tolerated by the government, past and present. Considering their proximity to the present occupants of Malacañang, these warlords, as well as their henchmen, certainly believe that they can get away with cold-blooded mass murder.”

“It is doubly condemnable that among the latest victims were journalists and lawyers, who have been in the line of fire because of their commitment to their respective profession. Sadly, the names of Atty. Brizuela and Atty. Oquendo will be added to the long list of victims of extra-judicial killings under the present administration,” the group said on Tuesday.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines branded the killings of journalists as barbaric and condemned the murders.

“Words fail to convey the enormous condemnation we heap upon this barbaric deed and its barbarous perpetrators, whose descent into moral monstrosity has no parallel in Mindanao's troubled history,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.

“We ask the government to swiftly arrest and punish the perpetrators of this mass murder. Although the Ampatuan clan said to be behind this mass murder are known to be her political henchmen and running dogs in Central Mindanao, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should not and must not a la Pontius Pilate let this one more heinous atrocity pass into history without the deserved punishment to the killers and redress to their victims as well as to their injured, scandalized communities. Without such a categorical closure, we in Mindanao will continue to bleed and suffer from this systemic culture of violence and death. With hope we say, God forbid!” the NUJP in Zamboanga City said. (Mindanao Examiner)

Top ARMM Official Killed In Cotabato Ambush

A scene near a public market in Cotabato City. Gunmen kill Wednesday 04 Oct 2006 a top official of the Muslim autonomous region, lawyer Arnel Datukon, in Cotabato City near Maguindanao province in the southern Philippines. (Juan Magtanggol)

MAGUINDANAO (Mindanao Examiner / 04 Oct) - Unidentified motorcycle gunmen on Wednesday ambushed a car carrying an official of the Muslim autonomous region in the southern Philippines, police and military said.

Two gunmen, armed with M16 automatic rifles, opened fire on the car, killing a lawyer Arnel Datukon, executive director of the Social Fund Project of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said Chief Supt. Joel Goltiao, the regional police chief.

"There is an investigation going on and our forces are tracking down the gunmen responsible in this senseless killing," Goltiao told the Mindanao Examiner.

Datukon was on his way to work when ambushed around 8 a.m. in downtown Cotabato City near Maguindanao province, he said.

Witnesses said the attackers were clad in camouflage uniform and escaped after the ambush. Police and military camouflage are widely available in black-markets in Cotabato City, despite a strict campaign against the use by civilians of these uniforms.

"We are supporting the police force in the hunt for the ambushers. And troops have been alerted about the killing," Col. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army's 6th Infantry Division in Maguindanao, said in a separate interview.

He said Brig. Gen. Nehemias Pajarito, the regional army commander, ordered troops to intensify patrol in the city's outskirts to help the police secure Cotabato against lawless elements.

The governor of the Muslim autonomous region Datu Zaldy Ampatuan was not available to make a statement, but the politician, the son of Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan, is frequently holding office in his hometown in Shariff Aguak.

The elder Ampatuan survived an ambush in June in Shariff Aguak town after a roadside bomb was detonated near the politician's convoy and authorities blamed the attack to a senior Moro Islamic Liberation Front leader, Zaid Pakiladatu, who denied the accusation. But Pakiladatu's wife was also killed in an ambush in Cotabato City several weeks later after the bombing.

The influential and equally powerful Ampatuan clan and the MILF are bitter enemies and forces from both sides had previously clashed in Maguindanao province. It was not immediately known if the latest attack was connected to the feud. (With reports from Juan Magtanggol and Mark Navales)