Maguindanao Chronicles

Int’l media group scores
move to free 2 Ampatuans

The Paris-based press freedom advocacy group Reporters Without Borders expressed concern over the recent move by Department of Justice Alberto Agra to withdraw the murder charges against former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Zaldy Ampatuan and his cousin Akmad Ampatuan. The two are among the members of the Ampatuan clan that had been charged for the murder of 57 people in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao last November 23, 200. The victims included 32 members of the media who were covering the filing of the certificate of candidacy of Ampatuan’s political rival, Ishmael Mangudadatu.

Read more... | Posted Saturday, April 24th, 2010

Order to clear Ampatuans
shows “Crisis of Justice”

by Justine Espina-Letargo

Legal experts warned of a looming crisis in the justice system after public prosecutors openly defied an order by Acting Justice Secretary Alberto Agra to drop the murder charges against two prominent members of the Ampatuan clan accused of involvement in the November 23 Maguindanao Massacre last year.
Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Governor Roan [...]

Read more... | Posted Monday, April 19th, 2010

Media orgs hold press conference
denouncing the DOJ decision

Media groups denounce decision of Justice Secretary Alberto Agra to drop the murder charges against Zaldy and Akmad Ampatuan in connection with the Maguindanao Massacre.

Read more... | Posted Monday, April 19th, 2010

Ampatuans managed public
funds like clan’s own purse

by Malou Mangahas

THE COMMISSION on Audit (COA) is probably used to seeing dismal book-keeping from government units, but in the last several years, it seems to have become particularly challenged in trying to keep track of the accounts of Maguindanao and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Since 2002, the state auditing agency, in various reports, has repeatedly raised adverse findings about the lack of transparency, inadequate documentation of expenses, disallowed or irregular or unliquidated disbursements, and mismatched or irreconcilable entries in bank balances and financial reports of ARMM and Maguindanao, as well as unverified or unavailable physical inventory of equipment and properties supposedly purchased with public funds there.

Read more... | Posted Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
Sidebar

Fast, furious wheels

by By Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews

THE STORY goes that in his younger, wilder days, Andal Ampatuan Sr. — patriarch of the powerful family that holds sway over Maguindanao and much of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao — used to ride a horse as he led a band of armed men in forays to hinterland villages.

Read more... | Posted Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
Maguindanao a development black hole

The poor get poorer, Ampatuans
get richer as IRA billions pour in

by Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews

IN THE nation’s third poorest province, Maguindanao, the poverty incidence is a staggering 62 percent – five of every six residents live on less than a dollar a day. But in the midst of all that poverty, Maguindanao and the Ampatuans have always been awash in cash, not so much because of any economic activity of note. The cash came nearly entirely from Manila, courtesy of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who has pampered the province and the clan as if they were her spoiled twins.

Read more... | Posted Monday, March 29th, 2010
The Ampatuans of dirt-poor Maguindanao

Shamefully rich, clan has
35 houses, fleet of wheels

by Carolyn O. Arguillas/Mindanews

It has been four months since the massacre in Maguindanao, in which the alleged main perpetrators are members of a rich and powerful clan. Until their detention, the principal suspects in the murder of 57 people on November 23, 2009 lived in mansions in the country’s third poorest province, in neighboring cities, and even in Metro Manila.

How they acquired their supposedly fabulous fortune cannot be explained in the documents submitted by the public officials among them. But an unbridled access to public monies may be one of the keys to the puzzle, as is the willingness of national government officials to tolerate even the excesses of a political ally.

Read more... | Posted Sunday, March 28th, 2010
Video

The curious case of ARMM and Maguindanao population spikes

by Ed Lingao

This report exposes what population experts call a statistical anomaly with grave implications on the conduct and results of the May 10, 2010 elections the inexplicable sharp spike in the population growth rate of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Read more... | Posted Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Photo Gallery

Scenes from the Ampatuan trial

Photos from the petition for bail hearings of the principal accused in the November 23, 2009 Massacre in Ampatuan town, Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr.

Read more... | Posted Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
Alarm bells for May 10 elections?

Sharp spike in Maguindanao,
ARMM population a big riddle

by Roel R. Landingin

A RECENT conference of the Philippine Population Association had none of the media frenzy that usually attends the ongoing bail hearing for ex-Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., the prime suspect in the massacre of 57 people, including 32 media workers, in Maguindanao last November 23.

Read more... | Posted Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

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