Mayor accused of Philippines massacre

A leading member of a powerful political clan was arrested today accused of leading the Philippines election massacre.

Town mayor Andal Ampatuan, whose family rule an area in the south of the country, allegedly led the gunmen who shot dead a convoy 57 people linked with a rival on Monday.

The dead included at least 18 journalists and the wife, family and dozens of supporters of a candidate who wanted to challenge the Ampatuan clan, which has run Maguindanao province unopposed for years.

Ampatuan was handed over to police by his family.

As he was ferried from his home province, he tried to hide his face with a scarf. Later, when he was asked by reporters if he was involved in the killings he replied: “There is no truth to that. The reason I came out is to prove that I am not hiding and that I am not guilty.”

Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuno said he has instructed his staff to work overnight to be able to meet a 36-hour legal deadline for filing charges following Ampatuan’s arrest. He is the only suspect identified so far.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said he had warned Ampatuan’s family they risked a military attack unless they turned him over.

As a helicopter carrying Ampatuan took off from the Maguindanao provincial capital for General Santos, shots rang out but the aircraft was not hit.

The Ampatuan clan helped president Gloria Arroyo and her allies win the 2004 presidential and 2007 senatorial elections by delivering crucial votes.

Ms Arroyo’s ruling party, in an emergency meeting yesterday, expelled Ampatuan, his father and a brother.

Ampatuan’s surrender followed days of discussions with his family, apparently in a bid to prevent hostilities between the clan’s followers and government forces.

The area around the provincial capital was tense after troops disarmed nearly 400 pro-government militiamen loyal to the Ampatuans. Such militias are meant to act as an auxiliary force to the military and police in fighting rebels and criminals but often serve as politicians’ private armies.

The military deployed tanks and truckloads of troops throughout the province under a state of emergency to hunt down the attackers and prevent retaliatory violence from the victims’ clan.

Ms Arroyo has come under intense pressure at home and abroad to seek justice for the victims of the massacre, with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and media and human rights watchdogs voicing their concern over the scale of the killings.

The rival candidate, Ismael Mangudadatu, had received death threats and sent his wife and relatives to lodge his candidacy papers in the convoy that was ambushed.

Six senior officers, including the provincial police chief and his deputy, 20 members of Ampatuan township’s police station and 347 militiamen were in custody for the investigation, but that not all are considered suspects.

Ms Arroyo promised justice for the victims but few think she will be able to restore the rule of law in the impoverished region that has been outside the central government’s reach for generations, and where warlords backed by private armies go by their own rules.