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Muslim clan denies it killed 57 in Philippines
Source: Agencies |
November 30, 2009, Monday
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A POWERFUL Muslim clan accused of staging a massacre in the Philippines last week of 57 civilians, including dozens of journalists, denied any involvement in the killings during a rare news conference yesterday.
Thousands of followers rallied outside while Zaldy Ampatuan, governor of a Muslim autonomous region, told reporters his family has hired a battery of lawyers to defend his brother, who has been detained as the main suspect in the November 23 massacre.
Ampatuan said he and his father, who have also been linked to the savage killings condemned worldwide, were innocent.
He appealed to the public to respect the law and not prejudge his brother, adding he will resist a plan by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's interior secretary to suspend him and other officials of the vast autonomous region that he heads.
"We have been prejudged," Ampatuan told more than a dozen journalists in his family's mansion in Shariff Aguak township, capital of the predominantly Muslim province of Maguindanao, about 880 kilometers south of capital Manila.
In a demonstration of support, about 30 town mayors from the region trooped to the Ampatuans' heavily fortified residence to stand with the beleaguered clan. About 2,000 followers, many of them young people, held a noisy rally outside, chanting "long live the Ampatuans."
Thousands of troops, backed by tanks, have disarmed nearly 400 militiamen loyal to the Ampatuans and have taken control of Maguindanao's seat of power in Shariff Aguak. Arroyo came under intense domestic and international pressure to take tough action against the Ampatuans, her longtime political allies.
A convoy of people intending to file candidacy papers for Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu of Maguindanao's Buluan township, who wants to challenge Zaldy Ampatuan for the governorship, was ambushed on November 23. More than 30 journalists were invited to cover the event, unprecedented because nobody has run against the family for years.
In all, 57 people were killed - shot at close range and hacked with machetes - in the deadliest single attack on media in the world.
Thousands of followers rallied outside while Zaldy Ampatuan, governor of a Muslim autonomous region, told reporters his family has hired a battery of lawyers to defend his brother, who has been detained as the main suspect in the November 23 massacre.
Ampatuan said he and his father, who have also been linked to the savage killings condemned worldwide, were innocent.
He appealed to the public to respect the law and not prejudge his brother, adding he will resist a plan by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's interior secretary to suspend him and other officials of the vast autonomous region that he heads.
"We have been prejudged," Ampatuan told more than a dozen journalists in his family's mansion in Shariff Aguak township, capital of the predominantly Muslim province of Maguindanao, about 880 kilometers south of capital Manila.
In a demonstration of support, about 30 town mayors from the region trooped to the Ampatuans' heavily fortified residence to stand with the beleaguered clan. About 2,000 followers, many of them young people, held a noisy rally outside, chanting "long live the Ampatuans."
Thousands of troops, backed by tanks, have disarmed nearly 400 militiamen loyal to the Ampatuans and have taken control of Maguindanao's seat of power in Shariff Aguak. Arroyo came under intense domestic and international pressure to take tough action against the Ampatuans, her longtime political allies.
A convoy of people intending to file candidacy papers for Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu of Maguindanao's Buluan township, who wants to challenge Zaldy Ampatuan for the governorship, was ambushed on November 23. More than 30 journalists were invited to cover the event, unprecedented because nobody has run against the family for years.
In all, 57 people were killed - shot at close range and hacked with machetes - in the deadliest single attack on media in the world.
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