Philippines Moves Forward: Murder Charges Filed Against Former Governor
No Comments
Philippine politicians launched their campaigns today in a wide-open race for the presidency, with poverty, corruption and unemployment the top issues for the impoverished Southeast Asian archipelago.
The latest opinion poll shows two opposition lawmakers are neck-and-neck in the presidential polls, but analysts say it is too early to establish a clear trend in the race. It is in the spirit of curbing such corruption and indeed amidst the dynamic atmosphere that upcoming elections bring in the region that the current administration sought to punish those who hindered the democratic process the last time around. Authorities today in the Philippines have filed murder charges against the former governor of southern Maguindanao province, Andal Ampatuan Sr. and 196 others in connection with last year’s election-related massacre there.
Considered the worst politically motivated violence in recent Philippine history, the November 23 attack targeted and killed the wife and sister of political candidate Ismael “Toto” Mangudadatu, who had sent them to file paperwork allowing him to run for governor of Maguindanao. Thirty journalists were also among the 57 people killed in the attack.
Andal’s son and namesake, who is a mayor in the province, was charged with murder earlier.
An eight-member commission of the justice department said its investigation revealed a well-planned conspiracy, in which members of the Philippine police and army also were involved.
“The confluence of events before and immediately after the massacre took place led us to conclude that (the governor, his son and others) connived with the actual perpetrators,” the commission said, according to the state-run Philippines News Agency.
Authorities recommended that all the suspects be held without bail.
Before the November attack, candidate Mangudadatu said he had received threats from allies of Ampatuan Sr., saying he would be kidnapped if he filed the papers himself.
Maguindanao is part of an autonomous region in predominantly Muslim Mindanao, which was set up in the 1990s to quell armed uprisings by people seeking an independent Muslim homeland in the predominantly Christian Asian nation.
Although we must applaud the efforts to set a democratic precedent in the Philippines, we must indeed be wary of how these elections unfold and the repercussions thereafter. Media censorship, voter registration disputes and military crackdowns are not new elements hindering progress in the region, and if they begin to emanate, one must cast doubt on the eventual result.