Ampatuan Jr. held at NBI

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

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GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Andal Ampatuan Jr. was in denial and even tried to hide his face behind a scarf under a barrage of questions from reporters asking if he masterminded Monday’s massacre of 57 people.

“There is no truth to that,” said Ampatuan, mayor of Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao, ruled by his family that is a close ally of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. “The reason I came out is to prove that I am not hiding and that I am not guilty.”

Ampatuan was placed in government custody after his brother, Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, turned him over to Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza Thursday morning.

But as Mayor Ampatuan stepped out of the helicopter that transported him from Shariff Aguak town to the airport here, the scarf was gone. He was sporting a red and blue putong, a headband usually used by Moro warriors.

Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera waited two hours for the arrival of Ampatuan, accompanied by Dureza. The mayor was then led to the airport’s VIP lounge for a summary inquest at mid-afternoon after his lawyer, Seigfred Fortun, arrived.

Esmael Mangudadatu, the vice mayor of Buluan town whose wife, two sisters and two lawyers were among the 57 killed while en route to file his certificate of candidacy for governor of Maguindanao in the May elections, was visibly enraged.

He tried to raise his fist toward Ampatuan, who was just a meter away, sitting. But agents of the National Bureau of Investigation intervened.

Mangudadatu later told reporters he was enraged but that he had to contain his anger. “I don’t know what I could do, but truth will come out. Whatever the court decides, should be accepted,” he said in Filipino.
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Ah...Philippines my Philippines, when will you ever change and dismantle all these political dynasties and political killings.

Full story at the Philippine Daily Inquirer.