Maguindanao called ‘Republic of Ampatuan’ - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

Maguindanao called ‘Republic of Ampatuan’ - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

MANILA, Philippines—The Ampatuan clan and its supporters, who gave President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her allies controversial victories in the 2004 and 2007 elections, were labeled rebels on Monday.

Clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr., a three-term governor of Maguindanao province, was called the leader of the rebellion by Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera.

She said supporters called Maguindanao the “Republic of Ampatuan.”

“It’s really a government already, all on its own, headed by the Ampatuans.”

Devanadera made a distinction between the charges to be filed against the Ampatuans in connection with the Nov. 23 massacre of 57 people and rebellion.

On Saturday, Ampatuan was arrested in his Shariff Aguak home in Maguindanao under the martial law proclamation of Ms Arroyo on Friday to combat the threat of rebellion, Devanadera said.

Ampatuan’s four sons—the acting governor and vice governor of Maguindanao, the governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the Shariff Aguak mayor—were among those arrested on Saturday in a crackdown that has so far netted 67 suspects.
Devanadera said the 70-year-old Ampatuan patriarch would be charged with murder within 72 hours.

“Murder is one offense and rebellion is another,” she said.

Devanadera said inquest proceedings for rebellion started Monday against 24 people, including Ampatuan and ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan. She said the rebellion charges would be filed on Tuesday in the Cotabato Regional Trial Court if the prosecutors established probable cause.

Under the Constitution, those arrested without warrants under a martial law situation should be released within three days unless formally charged.

Ampatuan’s namesake son, the mayor of Datu Unsay town, is detained at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) headquarters in Manila for multiple murder.

Accusations that Ms Arroyo stole the 2004 presidential election—a charge she has vehemently denied—stemmed from revelations in the so-called “Hello Garci” tapes of vote-padding in Central Mindanao, which includes Maguindanao.

In the 2007 senatorial elections, administration candidates scored a 12-0 shutout in the province.

Ampatuan seized at hospital

On Sunday night, the military forcibly took Ampatuan from Davao Doctors Hospital and brought him to the medical facility in Camp Panacan in Davao City.

The soldiers had to break the door of Ampatuan’s suite after relatives and lawyers locked it in a bid to prevent authorities from taking him into custody.

He had been brought to the hospital hours after he complained of chest pains following his arrest at Shariff Aguak on Saturday.

Maj. Gen. Carlos Holganza, commander of the 10th Infantry Division, confirmed that soldiers had taken Ampatuan into custody, but denied using excessive force.

“We are only ensuring his safety,” Holganza said.

Maj. Randolph Cabangbang, spokesperson of the Eastern Mindanao Command, said Ampatuan’s family was delaying his transfer to Manila to face multiple murder charges.

No basis for rebellion

The opposition in the House of Representatives Monday said there was no factual basis for the government’s claims that rebellion existed in Maguindanao and the Ampatuans could argue that they could not be held liable for this charge.

“Rebellion subsumes all acts like murder,” said Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo.

“If they are acquitted of rebellion, the murder charges would also be done away with,” Ocampo told reporters.

Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino pointed out that Moro National Liberation Front leader Nur Misuari was recently acquitted of rebellion for the deadly attack on a military camp in Sulu in which 100 people died.

Aba-Ako party-list Rep. Leonardo Montemayor also wondered why the President saw it fit to declare martial law in Maguindanao, but not in other parts of the country where rebellion is also taking place, such as those areas controlled by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Rebellion in other areas

“Why limit it to Maguindanao?” Montemayor asked.

In a report, Malacañang said that it could have gone after the suspects in the massacre had not the Ampatuans blocked their efforts.

“More importantly, a separatist group based in Maguindanao has joined forces with the Ampatuans,” it said.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile Monday said that rebellion should be a separate charge against the Ampatuans because the massacre “happened prior to the onset of...a rebellious act.”

Enrile said that what could be absorbed would be the charge of illegal possession of firearms. He said rebellion carried a far heavier penalty than illegal possession of arms.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said that if the Ampatuans were charged with rebellion, they would suffer a lower penalty than that for multiple murder and would even quality for pardon or amnesty.

“These people have not even expressed any semblance of ideology, and therefore they cannot even be considered political offenders,” she said.

The Ampatuans, she said, should be treated as “terrorists” and “megacriminals.” With reports from Christian V. Esguerra, Dona Z. Pazzibugan, Leila B. Salaverria, Christine O. Avendaño and Dennis Jay Santos and Jeffrey Tupas, Inquirer Mindanao