Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 11:11:00 11/25/2009
Filed Under: Eleksyon 2010, Elections, Politics, Crime
MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE 2) The Philippine National Police is still gathering evidence against an influential clan suspected of being behind the massacre in Maguindanao province, an official said Wednesday, as the death toll has risen to 52.When asked if the police were ready to summon Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his son Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina, PNP spokesman, said, "We are still collating evidence against anybody liable for this horrible act."
Espina said they would not invite the Ampatuans for questioning over the gruesome killings of Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu’s wife, his sisters, two lawyers, and at least 13 journalists, among others, last Monday.
The bodies retrieved Wednesday included that of radio reporter Henry Araneta (dzRH), an unidentified UNTV staff and two unidentified women, Espina said.
Also recovered was the UNTV vehicle, he added.
Mangudadatu’s wife, Gina, and supporters were supposed to file the candidacy of the vice mayor who would be running for Maguindanao governor in the May 2010 elections in Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao when they were waylaid by over 100 gunmen. Mangudadatu will be running against Andal Ampatuan Jr.
Vice Mayor Mangudadatu said he received a text message from his wife, shortly before the massacre, that their six-car convoy had been blocked by men of the Ampatuans and that Ampatuan Jr. had even slapped her.
An Agence France-Presse report quoted Espina as saying that “those who were abducted and murdered at Saniag were initially stopped by a group led by the mayor of Datu Unsay.”
The military had previously named bodyguards hired by the Ampatuan clan as the suspected gunmen.
However, the police spokesman's comments were the first time Ampatuan Jr. has been mentioned in the massacre.
The Ampatuan son was being groomed to succeed his father, the three-term governor of Maguindanao province on Mindanao Island.
The media men joined the convoy to cover the event, seen as significant in Maguindanao politics because the Mangudadatus used to be allies of the Ampatuans and the Ampatuans have had a stranglehold on local politics for decades.
Speaking with reporters in Camp Crame, Quezon City on Wednesday, Espina doused speculations that the PNP was giving kid-glove treatment to the Ampatuans, one of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s staunchest political allies.
He said police investigators were trying to gather enough evidence to file cases against Andal Jr. who was allegedly in the area where the victims were held and killed.
“As what PNP chief Jesus Verzosa stressed, there will be no sacred cows in our investigation,” he said.
Abigail Kwok, INQUIRER.net, AFP
Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20091125-238289/No-evidence-yet-vs-Arroyo-ally-linked-to-massacrePNP
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