Article Archive

IF ANDAL AMPATUAN SR. and his sons ruled Maguindanao as if they owned the province, perhaps it was because they really owned a sizeable chunk of it — and parts of Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Davao City, and Makati City as well.

MARY GRACE MORALES lost two loved ones in the Maguindanao Massacre of Nov.23, 2009 — her husband Rosell, a reporter for News Focus, and her sister Marites Cablitas, a reporter of radio DxBX.

ON JUNE 6, 2011, a year and a half after the Maguindanao Massacre claimed the lives of 58 people, including 32 journalists, the Court of Appeals ordered the freezing of all the known assets of those accused of involvement in the crime: Andal Ampatuan Sr., his sons Andal Jr. and Zaldy, and 25 other Ampatuan family members and their associates.

ARNEL CORTEZ MANALOTO, the lawyer of Andal Ampatuan Jr. who purchased eight of his properties in Davao City, is actually a young, recently married trial lawyer based in Angeles City, Pampanga, roughly a thousand kilometers north of the home province of his more famous client.