Order to clear Ampatuans
shows “Crisis of Justice”
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 [...]
Ampatuans managed public
funds like clan’s own purse
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.
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Fast, furious wheels
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.
The poor get poorer, Ampatuans
get richer as IRA billions pour in
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.
Shamefully rich, clan has
35 houses, fleet of wheels
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.
Sharp spike in Maguindanao,
ARMM population a big riddle
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.
10 Ampatuans implicated
in massacre are candidates
DAVAO CITY – Only two of the 12 prominent Ampatuans implicated in the November 23, 2009 massacre in Maguindanao are not running for any posts in this year’s elections: Datu Unsay mayor Datu Andal “Unsay” Ampatuan, Jr., and ARMM governor Datu Zaldy Ampatuan. Just as well, their wives and a daughter are running, records of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) show.
68 Ampatuans, 15 Mangudadatus
dominate Maguindanao elections
DAVAO CITY – The Ampatuans, Mangudadatus, Midtimbangs, Sinsuats, Masturas, Sangkis comprise the majority among Maguindanao’s 879 candidates running for 374 posts: two congressional representatives to Congress, one governor, one vice-governor, 10 provincial board members, 36 mayors, 36 vice mayors and 288 municipal board members or councilors.
The Ampatuans lead the list of candidates with 50 carrying [...]
Detained but still running big-time
DAVAO CITY – Their leaders may be detained outside Maguindanao but they remain a clan to reckon with in Maguindanao, if we are to base it on the number of candidates running for election or reelection on May 10. The Ampatuans, Sinsuats, Sangkis, Mangudadatus, Pendatuns, Masturas, Midtimbangs, etc.. are fielding candidates for the May 10 polls but the Ampatuans have the highest number at 68, 50 of them carrying the same surname while the remaining 18 use Ampatuan as their middle name.
Arroyo, Ampatuans mocked agencies in crafty power play
A FEW weeks after the Maguindanao massacre, Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, chief administrator of martial law in the area, received an unusual call on his cell phone.
On the other end of the line was a trusted aide of Datu Zaldy Uy Ampatuan, who was days earlier replaced as governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Zaldy was one of several members of the Ampatuan clan jailed on charges of rebellion, stemming from the November 23 carnage that left at least 57 people dead.
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