By CARLOS H. CONDE
The New York Times
Published: January 5, 2010
MANILA — The mayor of a town in the southern Philippines who is accused in the November massacre of dozens of people pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to 41 murder charges.
It was the first day of the trial of the mayor, Andal Ampatuan Jr., whose family has been a close political ally of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Authorities said the massacre around Ampatuan, a town in the southern province of Maguindanao, left 57 people dead, making it the worst act of political violence in Philippine history. Among the victims were 30 reporters and media workers — the largest number of journalists killed in a single episode, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Prosecutors have filed only 41 cases so far, according to Harry Roque, a lawyer who represents several of the victims’ families, although he said he expected further filings to come.
Earlier, prosecutors said that hundreds of other individuals, mostly members of a militia maintained by Mr. Ampatuan’s family, also would be charged in the massacre. Some of those members are already in police custody, although only Mr. Ampatuan appeared in court on Tuesday.
Mr. Roque, in an interview, said he and other lawyers for the victims would ask the court next week to consolidate the cases against the accused. He also said they would ask for Mr. Ampatuan to be transferred to a jail in Quezon City, in the Manila metropolitan area, from the single cell he currently occupies under custody of the National Bureau of Investigation.
“He should be treated like any other criminal,” Mr. Roque said.
Mr. Ampatuan is the mayor of the town of Datu Unsay in Maguindanao, a predominantly Muslim province about 600 miles south of Manila. The families of some of the victims accused the government last week of giving the Ampatuans “special treatment” for allowing them to occupy cells by themselves and freely use their cellphones and for having their maids and cooks attend to them while in custody.
“The public, most of all our clients, are understandably wary about the treatment of the Ampatuans, given how close they were with the Arroyo administration,” Mr. Roque said, “which is why we are trying our best to convince the court to treat the Ampatuans like any other accused in any other crime.”
Security was tight at Tuesday’s hearing. Only a few journalists were allowed inside the court, a function hall inside the police headquarters in Quezon City that has been converted into a courtroom to accommodate more than 500 people. No phones, recorders or cameras were allowed.
Mr. Ampatuan arrived in a sport utility vehicle, escorted by 30 police officers, and he wore a bulletproof vest over a checked shirt. Dante Jimenez, chairman of the watchdog group Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, said Mr. Ampatuan yawned repeatedly during the proceedings “as if these things did not bother him.”
Several of the victims were the wife, sisters and other relatives of a one-time a political ally of the Ampatuans, Esmael Mangudadatu, known as Toto. Mr. Mangudadatu decided in November that he would challenge Mr. Ampatuan for the governorship of Maguindanao in this year’s election.
Wary of inciting his political opponents, Mr. Mangudadatu sent a number of his relatives — accompanied by the journalists — to file his candidacy papers on Nov. 23. As the delegation made its way to the election office, prosecutors say, Mr. Ampatuan and at least a hundred of his men blocked the convoy and took the party to a remote hilltop. The victims were then shot, mutilated and buried. The graves were dug, prosecutors said, with a backhoe belonging to the provincial government.
Mr. Ampatuan’s father, Andal Ampatuan Sr., was the governor of the province at the time of the massacre. He has since been replaced.
The massacre led Mrs. Arroyo to temporarily put Maguindanao under martial law as the authorities investigated the massacre. The president has been criticized for her past affiliation with the Ampatuans, especially after they delivered votes for her and her party in the 2004 elections.
Mrs. Arroyo formed a commission on Dec. 9 to find ways to dismantle the private armies, which have been widely blamed for much of the election violence in the Philippines over the years. The commission, with a deadline of four months, had its first meeting on Tuesday, according to Mr. Jimenez, who is a member.
Lawyers for Mr. Ampatuan filed a petition for bail on Tuesday, which the prosecutors countered by offering testimony from at least 12 witnesses. The judge, Jocelyn Solis-Reyes, of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, scheduled a hearing for next week.
