Allies of a political clan linked to the bloody massacre of at least 57 people last week rallied to their defense in the southern Philippines yesterday.
About a dozen mayors and other officials from three provinces — all allies of the powerful Ampatuan family — met with regional governor Zaldy Ampatuan in his mansion while about 900 people, many of them children, rallied outside.
Zaldy Ampatuan, governor of a huge Muslim autonomous region, issued a statement vowing justice for the victims of the massacre, but also insisting on the innocence of his family.
He charged that they were being politically persecuted and that the government in Manila was preventing even more of his political allies from reaching him. He did not identify his persecutors.
“The Ampatuan family is under siege,” his statement read. “This is an illegal persecution and our persecutors in their dire efforts to promote their sagging image are trying to ride ... this incident.
The governor said he had been on his way to Manila to meet Philippine President Gloria Arroyo herself when the incident happened and presented his plane ticket as proof.
The governor’s brother, Andal Ampatuan Jr, a local mayor, has been charged with the murder of 57 people, including political rivals, journalists, lawyers and eyewitnesses on Monday on Mindanao.
The hundreds protesting outside Ampatuan’s mansion chanted “Long live the Ampatuans,” amid concerns that many officials linked to the clan may be suspended from their jobs while authorities probe the massacre.
“Don’t remove the Ampatuans from their positions,” said one placard while another protester held one saying “Ampatuans, not guilty.”
Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera has said Ampatuan Jr, who has already been detained in Manila, directly led the murder. She has indicated more charges would likely be laid against others.
Devanadera said the suspect’s father, Andal Ampatuan Sr, the leader of the Ampatuan clan and governor of Maguindanao province, was among eight other members of the family under investigation and not allowed to leave the country.
Zaldy Ampatuan criticized the imminent suspensions, saying “this is an arbitrary act on the part of some government officials” that has to be addressed by Arroyo.
James Watson — the Nobel laureate co-credited with the pivotal discovery of DNA’s double-helix structure, but whose career was later tainted by his repeated racist remarks — has died, his former lab said on Friday. He was 97. The eminent biologist died on Thursday in hospice care on Long Island in New York, announced the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he was based for much of his career. Watson became among the 20th century’s most storied scientists for his 1953 breakthrough discovery of the double helix with researcher partner Francis Crick. Along with Crick and Maurice Wilkins, he shared the
OUTRAGE: The former strongman was accused of corruption and responsibility for the killings of hundreds of thousands of political opponents during his time in office Indonesia yesterday awarded the title of national hero to late president Suharto, provoking outrage from rights groups who said the move was an attempt to whitewash decades of human rights abuses and corruption that took place during his 32 years in power. Suharto was a US ally during the Cold War who presided over decades of authoritarian rule, during which up to 1 million political opponents were killed, until he was toppled by protests in 1998. He was one of 10 people recognized by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in a televised ceremony held at the presidential palace in Jakarta to mark National
US President Donald Trump handed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a one-year exemption from sanctions for buying Russian oil and gas after the close right-wing allies held a chummy White House meeting on Friday. Trump slapped sanctions on Moscow’s two largest oil companies last month after losing patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his refusal to end the nearly four-year-old invasion of Ukraine. However, while Trump has pushed other European countries to stop buying oil that he says funds Moscow’s war machine, Orban used his first trip to the White House since Trump’s return to power to push for
LANDMARK: After first meeting Trump in Riyadh in May, al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House today would be the first by a Syrian leader since the country’s independence Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the US on Saturday for a landmark official visit, his country’s state news agency SANA reported, a day after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted long-time former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House today. It is the first such visit by a Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946, according to analysts. The interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president’s regional tour in May. US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack earlier
RSS