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...leading Muslim political clans: the Ampatuans. They are close allies of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's administration in Manila and rule Maguindanao, a hardscrabble province in an autonomous area for Muslims. Andal Ampatuan Jr., a Maguindanao mayor in his 40s, was expected to be charged with murder, according to local reports, quoting justice authorities. Ampatuan denies involvement: "The reason I came out is to prove that I am not hiding and that I am not guilty," he told local reporters. (See pictures of the deadly massacre in the Philippines...
...Monday, on a highway cutting through a banana grove, a large force of gunmen - reports say around 100 - intercepted the 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...
...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...
...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 by the Ampatuans, leaving a hefty political debt. Indeed, her main rival Fernando Poe Jr., a hugely popular movie star, reportedly...
...Murder has long been the ultimate political tool for eliminating rivals here. Those in the firing line are mainly at the level of local politics, such as governors, mayors and elected posts in community units called barangays. And, crucially, local government power can be a considerable source of wealth generation. "Many regard these posts as personal entitlements and their enemies are rival political families," says Benito Lim, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines. "If they cannot come to an arrangement, then eliminating a rival is an option." (Read a TIME cover story on boxer Manny Pacquiao...