MANILA, Philippines, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Police have charged 196 people including an ally of President Gloria Arroyo with murder for their involvement in a roadside massacre last November.
The move by the Department of Justice is a big step forward after only one man had been charged with murder since the killings on a lonely rural road. It was the worst massacre in Philippines history and claimed more than 57 lives including 32 local journalists and a pregnant woman.
The indictments include former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., a close supporter of Arroyo in the last general election. One of his sons, of the same name, had up to now been the sole person charged with the multiple murder based on disturbing eye-witness testimony at his pre-trial hearing last month.
All those charged in the apparently politically motivated slaughter using guns and knives in broad daylight are expected to ask for bail. However, they will likely not receive it, as happened in the case of Ampatuan Jr., according to Philippines media reports.
But the numerous and lengthy bail hearings will make the case drag on and become a logistical nightmare before it even gets to trial courts, lawyers told the British Broadcasting Corp.
The indictments also are the beginnings of what could be some of the most complex court presentations because the accused have heavily intertwined marriages and deep clan loyalties as well as local political positions. There is also suspected local police involvement in the massacre.
Ampatuan Sr. is the head of the powerful Ampatuan clan that controlled local politics in Maguindanao and ran a private army. He served in the Philippines Congress and won the governorship of Maguindanao unopposed for several terms. Ampatuan Jr. was reportedly planning a similarly unopposed run to replace his father but then another local person, Toto Mangudadatu, decided to run as well, which allegedly prompted the slaughter.
On the day of the murder police found the bodies, along with several vehicles in which they were traveling, buried in a deep roadside grave near the site of the shootings. The dead had been on their way to the elections office in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao, a province of Mindanao, which is the second-largest and easternmost island in the country. Ampatuan is around 560 miles south of the capital Manila.
The victims were supporters of Toto Mangudadatu, another deputy mayor of a local town but who was not with the convoy that fateful day. Mangudadatu was to seek the local gubernatorial seat in the coming May elections. His supporters as well as several local journalists were on their way to file his papers to register him as an official candidate.
Maguindanao province is part of the autonomous region of Muslim Mindanao, an area noted for indiscriminate killings and kidnappings where political and business leaders are careful of public appearances. Mangudadatu said right after the killings that he did not send his own armed guards with his supporters because he did not want to increase the chance of any armed street battle.
According to a report in the Philippine Star newspaper, state prosecutors said witness testimonies and evidence presented during preliminary investigations revealed a "confluence of events before and immediately after" the massacre showing that the Ampatuans connived with the killers even if they were not at the site.
"The evidence on record established that these respondents instigated the plan to ambush members of the Mangudadatu clan who were to travel to the Comelec (elections) office in the provincial capital of Maguindanao. There is direct evidence that these respondents agreed to commit the crime," the prosecutors said.
The intricacies of the Ampatuan family and their involvement in local politics were explained in a report by the Manila Times newspaper just after the indictments. Of the 12 Ampatuan clan members allegedly involved in the massacre, six are in police custody and six are yet to be arrested.
Only two of these 12 prominent Ampatuans are not running for any posts in this year's elections in May. Not running are Ampatuan Jr. and Datu Zaldy Ampatuan, already governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. However, their wives are running for election. The wife of Ampatuan Jr. is running to replace him as mayor of the town Datu Unsay.
Comelec records also show that 68 Ampatuans are running in this year's May 10 elections. Fifty of them carry the surname and 18 others use Ampatuan as their middle name. Of the 50, at least 23 candidates are directly related to the father, Andal Ampatuan Sr.
Ampatuan Sr. himself is running for vice governor of Maguindanao against three opponents. One of them is his daughter, Shaydee Ampatuan Abutazil.
