Philippines massacre: women thought they were safe. They were wrong
He knew that powerful and ruthless people wanted him dead and that he was risking everything by standing for election — but to one practical challenge at least, Ismael Mangudadatu thought he had a solution.
If he went in person to register as a candidate he would be inviting an attack by his enemies — the Ampatuan clan who have a near-monopoly on elected posts in the region. Instead, after consultation with his family and advisers, Mr Mangudadatu decided to send his wife and two sisters.
The local police refused to provide an escort and the Philippines Army declined a request for protection. But how much harm could befall a group of women? For good measure, the two family lawyers who were women and Mr Mangudadatu’s aunt — who was pregnant, like one of his sisters — went along for the ride with other supporters and relatives.
As a further safeguard, 27 journalists were invited. “Under our tradition, Muslim women are respected,” Mr Mangudadatu said. “They should not be harmed, just like innocent children and the elders. They will not harm us if journalists are watching.”
At 9.30am on Monday six minibuses began the drive from the town of Buluan to the provincial capital of Shariff Aguak. “This is women power in action,” Eden, Mr Mangudadatu’s sister, was heard to say. “Let’s help our men chart a better future for the province.”
Within hours, she and her companions were dead.
They had been bound, macheted, shot and buried in a mass grave. It is believed that some were raped.
Political killings have been a part of life for centuries in the Philippines, and the southern island of Mindanao is the most violent of all.
The attack, in which 57 people were killed, has raised questions about the relationship between the gangster clans such as the Ampatuan family and the highest levels of the Philippines metropolitan elite.
Yesterday Andal Ampatuan Jr, the son of one of the most powerful men in Mindanao, was charged with seven counts of murder. “He was the one who gave the instructions,” Agnes Devanadera, the Justice Minister, said. “He was among those … who killed the victims.”
Until they were expelled this week, Mr Ampatuan and his father were important members of the ruling party of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the President. Her Government has also moved against members of its security forces suspected of being complicit in the violence.
According to the national police chief, Jesus Verzosa, six senior officers, including the provincial chief and his deputy, twenty officers of the Ampatuan police station and about four hunded members of a militia loyal to the Ampatuan family are in custody.
Many Filipinos remain sceptical about the prospects for improvement. “He [Ampatuan Jr] can be a sacrificial mouse to spare the leopards behind the crime,” one Maguindanao man told The Times. “The most powerful people among the Ampatuans are still in government.”
Three journalists survived the attack because they stopped at their hotel when the convoy was setting out. “The lady at the front desk told us that a motorcycle-riding man armed with a pistol came to ask for the names of journalists who checked in at the hotel,” said Aquiles Zonio, of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
They tried calling colleagues, but the hold-up had already taken place. The convoy was stopped about an hour into its journey, near the town that bears the Ampatuan family name. Some victims were able to send texts reporting that they had been stopped by about a hundred armed men.
Police Chief Superintendent Felicisimo Khu said: “Twenty-four corpses were all killed by a firing squad. They were buried in six layers. Every layer is covered with earth, making it more difficult for the retrieval operations. I have asked myself why one of them has no underwear.”
Ms Devanadera said: “Even the private parts of the women were shot at. It was done practically to all the women. All the women had their zippers undone. The pants of some were pulled down. We have yet to determine whether they were raped.”
According to Mr Khu, the gunmen intercepted two vehicles with six people who happened to be travelling on the same road at the same time, and killed them too. “Some sustained multiple gunshot wounds — as many as eight,” said Benito Molina, a forensic examiner at the scene. “To judge from the blood, some of the corpses may have been buried while still alive.”
Cooking pots belonging to the killers were found at the scene and they had taken with them a mechanical digger bearing the name of the local government. Its engine was still running when soldiers arrived.
The brutality appears to have backfired on the Ampatuan clan: the intensity of public anger will ensure that no politician in Manila will court their friendship publicly in the election in May.
It is little compensation for the loss of his family, but Mr Mangudadatu’s election prospects have been strengthened. “Only death can stop me from running,” he said yesterday when he filed his candidature for the regional governorship of Maguindanao, which is held by the brother of Mr Ampatuan Jr. “This symbolises our freedom. I hope this will be the start of our liberation.”
The scale of the massacre may be unique, but its story — of violence, clans and corruption — is repeated across the Philippines.
Father Eduardo Vasquez, a priest in Shariff Aguak, said: “If powerful and equally armed families like the Mangudadatus were killed in such a barbaric manner, how much more for the ordinary civilians who have already been traumatised by the war?”
Clan power
Andal Ampatuan Sr has four wives and thirty children. He has a private army of several hundred, permitted under a presidential executive order
His extended family dominates the region’s politics. One son, Zaldy, is governor of the Muslim Mindanao
The provincial capital Maganoy was renamed Shariff Aguak after Mr Ampatuan’s late father One of his sons and a nephew are its mayor and vice-mayor
By Romy Elusfa in Ampatuan and Richard Lloyd Parry
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November 28th, 2009 21:30
The Philippines has so much potential. The nation could rival Japan and Korea in science, technology and economy. But events like this mass murder change the perception of the Philippines so that the world sees the country as a third-world African nation with tribal warfare and death squads.
Philippines! Do something! Realize your potential!! Eliminate political corruption! Stop this ‘tribal’ violence! Hang those responsible for destroying the good name of your nation!
I cry for the families of the murdered and for the soul of the Philippines.