MANGUDADATU: AMPATUANS A SHAME TO MORO PEOPLE
By ROGER M. BALANZA
Buluan, Maguindanao Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, who lost his wife and two sisters in the infamous Maguindanao Massacre, said the Ampatuans behind the murder of 57 people are a shame to the Moro people.
But the Muslim leader, in a forum in Davao City, said the Ampatuan clan led by former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr., should be differentiated from the rest of the Ampatuans who have nothing to do with the most gruesome political killing that included 31 local journalists on November 23, 2009.
Andal Sr., along with sons Andal Ampatuan, Jr., mayor of Datu Unsay town, and Zaldy Ampatuan, governor of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), several other relatives and more than 100 militiamen, have been implicated in the mass murder.
They are a shame to the Moro people, he told a business forum on Wednesday, as government continues to probe the massacre that has triggered national and international uproar.
Mangudadatu noted that even Davao City residents are happy the Ampatuans, who are now under arrest, met a dead road after decades of ruling Maguindanao with impunity. On top of the 57 killed on November 23, the Commission on Human Rights said about 200 others may have been murdered by the Ampatuans.
We heard about them shooting people in Davao City. We also heard about their public display of arrogance, he said.
But Mangudadatu said the crime of the Ampatuan clan should not be imputed on the others carrying the Ampatuan name. There are good Ampatuans, he said.
But Mangudadatu dismissed as a lame excuse the claim by Andal Sr. that he is sick. Andal Sr. is now being detained at a military hospital in Davao City, and has not yet appeared in court to face the rebellion and multiple murder charges filed against him and his clan members.
Prior to his arrest, he was always playing in the casino in Manila, said Mangudadatu.
Mangudadatu however is thankful that the government is serious is making the Ampatuans answer for the heinous crime of murdering 57 people in one setting. He should be treated as a high profile criminal to be kept not in a military hospital but in maximum security like former President Estrada (charged with plunder) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chair Nur Misuari (for rebellion), he said.
On November 23, Mangudadatu sent his wife and relatives and women supporters with 31 journalists in a convoy to file his certificate of candidacy in Sharrif Aguak municipality. But more than 100 militiamen, led by Andal Jr., intercepted the convoy.
Despite the tragedy, Mangudadatu, a political rival of the Ampatuans, is pushing through with running for governorship of Maguindanao in the May elections in 2010.
0 comments:
Post a Comment