The Philippine politician accused of masterminding an election-linked massacre that left 57 people dead surrendered to authorities yesterday but insisted he was innocent.
Amid rising criticism about the perceived slow response to Monday’s slaughter in the troubled south of the country, authorities finally took Andal Ampatuan Jr into custody while implementing sweeping security measures.
However, Ampatuan Jr insisted he did not orchestrate the killings in his home province of Maguindanao, where his family has been a dominant political force for decades.
“There is no truth to that,” he told reporters at an airport in General Santos, a major city in the south, when asked whether he was behind the murders.
It was his first public comment since the massacre and came after he peacefully surrendered at his Maguindanao mansion, from where he was flown by helicopter to General Santos en route to meet investigators in Manila.
Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera told reporters that an announcement could be expected by the weekend on whether charges would be laid against him.
Philippine government officials had been negotiating since on Tuesday with Ampatuan’s family for him to submit to questioning.
The massacre occurred after about 100 Ampatuan gunmen allegedly abducted a convoy of aides and relatives of a rival politician, Esmael Mangudadatu, plus a group of journalists.
The victims were snatched as they were traveling in a six-vehicle convoy to nominate Mangudadatu as the opposition candidate for provincial governor in next year’s national elections.
They were shot a short time later and dumped or buried in shallow graves on a remote farming road close to a town bearing the Ampatuan name.
Fifty-seven bodies have been recovered so far, nearly half of them believed to be those of reporters, making it the deadliest attack ever on journalists.
Ampatuan Jr is the son of Maguindanao’s governor, a Muslim clan chief of the same name who until this week was a close ally of Philippine President Gloria Arroyo’s ruling coalition.
Ampatuan Sr had been grooming his son, currently a local mayor, to take over as governor of Maguindanao.
The victims’ relatives alleged the Ampatuans organized the murders so that Mangudadatu would not run for that post.
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