‘Gruesome massacre’ kills 21 in Philippines

Karl Wilson, Foreign Correspondent

• Last Updated: November 24. 2009 12:26AM UAE / November 23. 2009 8:26PM GMT

MANILA // The Philippine government was considering imposing a state of emergency in the southern province of Maguindanao last night after a local politician’s convoy was ambushed and 21 people, including journalists, were beheaded. It was one of the worst cases of political violence in recent memory.

Police confirmed they had recovered the bodies of 21 people – 13 women and eight men – most of them mutilated and beheaded. Although police would not reveal the identities of the dead, one local television station confirmed at least four of its six-man crew had been killed.

The fate of at least 15 others travelling with the group, which included the wife and relatives of the vice-mayor of Buluan town, Datu Ismail Mangudadatu, was not known. The convoy was ambushed on Monday morning by heavily armed militia men as it made its way to a nearby provincial capital to lodge Mr Mangudadatu’s nomination papers for next year’s election in which he is standing for governor of Maguindanao in western Mindanao.

“This is a gruesome massacre of civilians unequalled in recent history,” Jesus Dureza, the presidential spokesman on Mindanao affairs, said.

“Even women and media men were not spared. There must be a total stop to this senseless violence. I strongly recommend that a state of emergency be imposed in the area and that everyone be disarmed. Anything less will not work.”

Mr Mangudadatu assumed that if he went it would be suicide and he believed that fellow Muslims would not harm women, he said in an interview. He told local television he thought by sending his wife and female relatives along with journalists to cover his nomination they would be safe from any attack especially by his main political rival, the governor of Maguindanao, Andal Ampatuan, who has ruled this predominately Muslim province for nearly a decade.

Mr Ampatuan has four wives and 30 children and through intermarriages with other political clans has managed to carve out a formidable political power base helped along with a well-armed militia.

Any challenge to that power base is said to be met with violence or massive intimidation.

An alleged example is the case of A Abdulkadir Candao. He drove his two young children to school on the morning of February 3, 2003. On that particular Monday, however, the family did not reach Notre Dame University, which was around 30 minutes away from their house in Cotabato City.

Armed men riding a motorcycle intercepted their car and opened fire. The children, aged 10 and 9, were unharmed, but their 65-year-old father died.

The Candaos are convinced – and have openly said – that the brains behind the murder was Mr Ampatuan. There had been bad blood between their families for some time.

The Philippine president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, ordered the police and military to “go after the perpetrators and bring them to justice”.

“This is a gruesome massacre of civilians unequalled in recent history,” Jesus Dureza, Mrs Arroyo’s spokesman on Mindanao affairs, wrote in a text message.

“Even women and media men were not spared. There must be a total stop to this senseless violence. I strongly recommend that a state of emergency be imposed in the area and that everyone be disarmed. Anything less will not work.”

Sources close to the Presidential Palace said last night they were considering “all options”, including the imposition of a state of emergency.

At least 12 journalists from the media were accompanying the group to the provincial capital, Shariff Aguak, which is widely known locally as Ampatuan Town.

The Manila-based television station UNTV confirmed that four of its employees were among those who were abducted and killed.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) in a statement condemned the killings, saying it was the worst “single tragedy to hit Philippine journalism”.

An NUJP officer, Rowena Paraan, said: “Not even in Iraq has there ever been this many journalists killed in one incident. And this one was deliberate.”

Jay Sonza, UNTV’s station manager, confirmed that four employees from its office in General Santos City in Mindanao were among those killed. He said the fate of two other staffers was still unclear.

“We’re shocked and we’re sad,” Mr Sonza said.

Mr Mangudadatu placed the blame for the killings on Mr Ampatuan, with whom he has had a major falling out. “The attack was politically motivated.”

Lt Col Romeo Brawner, a spokesman for the armed forces of the Philippines, could not confirm whether Mr Mangudadatu’s wife, Jenalyn, was among those beheaded.

In an interview on ANC television, Mr Mangudadatu claimed his wife was among the dead. He said his sister, two aunts, three cousins and his lawyers were travelling with the convoy.

He said his wife called him at about 9.30 in the morning to say an armed group from the Ampatuan clan had flagged them.

Col Brawner said some locals said the leader of the gang who staged the kidnapping was one of Mr Ampatuan’s sons and was accompanied by a local police officer.

Mr Ampatuan could not be reached for comment.

Revenge killings and clashes among rival political families are common in Maguindanao, where unlicensed firearms proliferate and blood feuds or rido are common place among clans in the region.

Rido is a local term for family feud and usually results in protracted fighting and retaliatory violence between warring families, groups and even communities.

Maguindanao has also seen sporadic fighting between government troops and fighters of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the past months despite a standing ceasefire agreement.


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