Death toll rises to 57 in attack police describe as very well planned
By CARLOS H. CONDE
The New York Times
Published: November 26, 2009
SALMAN, Philippines — As the toll in what is now considered the Philippines’ worst case of election violence rose to 57 on Wednesday, the authorities focused their suspicions on a powerful clan allied with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
In Manila, the Arroyo administration promised a swift investigation. The president “is enraged by these barbaric acts,” a spokesman, Cerge Remonde, said. “She has literally thrown the full force of the law and has mobilized the security and police forces of the state to go after the perpetrators. We are expecting arrests and prosecution in the next 24 hours.”
The army announced that it would disband a 200-member militia controlled by the clan suspected in the Monday attack, the Ampatuan family. Later on Wednesday, Mrs. Arroyo’s political party, the Lakas Kampi CMD, announced that it had expelled the patriarch of the Ampatuan clan, Andal Ampatuan Sr., and two of his sons, Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Jr. and Zaldy.
The army also deployed 500 extra troops from the central Philippines to the province of Maguindanao here on the southern island of Mindanao, an area that is home to decades-long Muslim and communist rebellions as well as fiefdoms ruled by powerful families.
As the authorities continued to search for bodies, they unearthed 11 more Wednesday on a grassy hilltop overlooking this village, not far from another mass grave with 46 of the victims — most of them members of the rival Mangudadatu clan, accompanied by 18 journalists.
The killings appeared to be directly linked to an electoral challenge to the Ampatuans mounted by the Mangudadatu family, which is based in the same province. But they were rooted in a long-established political system where the national government has supported and sometimes armed families to curb the influence of Muslim and Communist insurgents. Families have often ended up clashing in feuds called “rido” that can grow so violent that they regularly send ordinary residents fleeing as refugees.
Investigators have yet to name suspects in the killings but are looking into allegations that members of the disbanded Ampatuan militia were involved. Led by the family patriarch, Andal Ampatuan Sr., the governor of Maguindanao, the Ampatuans have ruled the province as their fiefdom since early this decade. Because some parts of Mindanao is a semi-autonomous Muslim region, the governor had the authority to carve up the province into smaller fiefdoms for his sons. New towns, along with new administrative offices and housing, can be seen along the main road cutting through the province.
But with elections scheduled for next May, the Ampatuans faced a challenge for governor in the person of Esmael Mangudadatu, the vice mayor of a small town called Buluan in this province. Significantly, Mr. Mangudadatu’s family clan holds the top political positions in the province just south of here, Sultan Kudarat.
Saying that he had received death threats and that the police had denied his request for an armed escort, Mr. Mangudadatu told the Philippine news media that he sent his wife and female relatives to file his candidacy papers before the deadline at the end of the month. He said he believed that, following traditional custom, the militias would not harm the women.
Mr. Mangudadatu also invited journalists to accompany the female entourage on the way to Shariff Aguak, the capital of Maguindanao province, reasoning that “maybe they will not harm us if journalists are watching them,” said Aquiles Zonio, a reporter for the Philippine Daily Inquirer who accompanied the entourage part of the way.
Felicisimo Khu, the police superintendent who oversaw the search for bodies on Wednesday, said that the gunmen stopped the entourage along the highway near here and drove the victims toward the hilltop here along a rough dirt road. Another police official told national television on Monday that the force members were under the control of Andal Ampatuan Jr., the governor’s son.
Mr. Mangudadatu said he received a phone call from his wife Genalyn just before she and the rest of the entourage were killed. His wife told him that they had been taken hostage by around 100 men, Mr. Mangudadatu told the Philippine news media.
The victims were shot at point blank, the men were separated from the women; vehicles were buried on one side of the hill while the victims on the other. And the gunmen seemed to have stayed a long time on the hilltop, as suggested by cooking pots found at the scene.
“They planned this very well,” Mr. Khu said, noting that the gunmen also managed to bring a backhoe whose engine was still running when soldiers arrived at the scene on Monday.
The backhoe — which the police said belonged to the provincial government — was apparently used to crush and tear apart two vehicles that were unearthed.
One of the crumpled vehicles, which had a “PRESS” sign on it, belonged to UNTV, a local television network whose members were among the journalists killed in the ambush. On the hilltop, not far from where the vehicles were excavated, pages of blood-smeared newspapers — apparently belonging to the journalists — fluttered in the wind.
Speaking for the Ampatuan clan, one of the governor’s sons, Zaldy Ampatuan, warned against a rush to judgment. “We need to give the Philippine National Police ample time to finish its investigation on this incident,” told a newspaper. “Meantime, we need to avoid speculations. We have to listen to reason, not to emotions.”
Jesus Dureza, Mrs. Arroyo’s adviser on Mindanao, said he had met with the Ampatuans, who promised to turn themselves in if necessary. Mrs. Arroyo’s executive secretary, Eduardo Ermita, said that “it definitely will help if those who feel that they are already being considered as suspects to turn themselves in and cooperate with the law enforcement agencies. It will help defuse the tension.”
The two provinces that are home to the two feuding clans, Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat, as well as Cotabato City, remained in a state of emergency on Wednesday.
But others were skeptical that the Ampatuans, who are Mrs. Arroyo’s closest political allies in Mindanao, would be arrested soon.
“It appears that the government is handling the Ampatuans of Maguindanao with kid gloves,” said Teodoro Casiño, a congressman and critic of the president. “Lesser mortals would have been arrested and disarmed by now especially under a state of emergency.”
Norimitsu Onishi contributed reporting from Jakarta, Indonesia.
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