Word: ampatuans
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...include those run by landlords, businessmen and gambling lords," says Rommel Banlaoi, director of the Philippine Institute for Political Violence and Terrorism Research. Many are small units with under a dozen members. But some - it is not clear how many - are virtual armies. The one operated by the Ampatuan clan blamed for the November massacre seems to have been the size of an army battalion...
...progress in breaking up the private armed groups would be an undeniable achievement for Arroyo, an unpopular but hardworking leader whose presidency has been jolted by corruption scandals. She has already shown it is possible: shortly after the Maguindanao massacre, troops were rushed to the province, successfully disarming the Ampatuan clan's large private army and seizing its huge cache of high-powered weapons...
...convoy of family members and supporters of Buluan vice-mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, also from a prominent local Muslim clan. They were on their way to the provincial capital to file his candidacy papers for Maguindanao's governorship in next year's general elections. It's a position that Ampatuan's father had occupied unopposed since 2001 and which Ampatuan planned to contest to keep the seat in the family. The Mangudadatu group was herded to what appears to have been a prepared killing ground in a hilly area a few kilometers from the highway. Television footage showed bullet-ridden bodies...
...interviews with local media, Mangudadatu told of death threats over his challenge for the governorship, and has publicly accused Ampatuan. He did not join the convoy, but filled it with female relatives, including his wife and two sisters, and supporters, as well as a large group of journalists to cover his candidacy. "Among the conventions that govern clan and political-related violence in the region is that women, children and the elderly are off-limits as targets," wrote Manuel Quezon III, a prominent political commentator, on his website. Besides those connected to the Mangudadatus, 27 local journalists were among...
...inhumanity that is a blight on our nation," and pledged to bring the murderers to justice. Amid rising public outrage at home and international condemnation, she is under pressure to deliver. The authorities have already come under fire for failing to quickly bring in members of the Ampatuan clan for questioning, inevitably raising suspicions that the administration was treating them with kid gloves. The question is whether - as one local columnist put it - Arroyo is ready to "throw the kitchen sink at a loyal ally." She is widely believed to have benefited in the 2004 presidential election from votes controlled...