http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/wo...rial.html?_r=0
MANILA — The man who prosecutors say masterminded one of the worst political and media massacres in the history of the Philippines, in which 58 people were shot to death and buried with a backhoe, has died of a heart attack, his lawyer said Saturday.
The defendant, Andal Ampatuan Sr., was the 74-year-old patriarch of a family that ruled the violence-ridden southern Philippine province of Maguindanao for nearly a decade. He died in a Manila hospital on Friday night after battling liver cancer.
At the time of his death, Mr. Ampatuan was still on trial in the case, accused of ordering his son and dozens of other men to attack the convoy of a political opponent whose supporters were on their way into Maguindanao Province on Nov. 23, 2009, to file papers declaring the rival’s candidacy for governor.
According to prosecutors, Mr. Ampatuan’s son, Andal Ampatuan Jr., and other armed men stopped the convoy and forced it down a dead-end road to a hilltop. There, the men lined up the passengers, including 31 journalists, and shot them to death with shotguns, AK-47s and other high-powered weapons.
The elder Mr. Ampatuan, who was the incumbent governor of Maguindanao at the time, had denied any role in the attack, as has his son, who was running to succeed him. The opponent, Esmael Mangudadatu, who was not a part of the convoy, was elected to the office in 2010.
Some of the victims appeared to have been executed while on their knees. Others were killed while trying to crouch in their vehicles. Two pregnant women, a sister and an aunt of Mr. Mangudadatu, were shot and killed at close range, according to the testimony of witnesses. Mr. Mangudadatu’s wife was also killed.
In 2013, a witness came forward to say that he had driven a backhoe owned by the provincial government that was used to bury the bodies of the dead and their vehicles. He told investigators in a sworn statement that he had used the excavator to pile blood-soaked bodies into a ditch and cover them with sand.
Several weeks after the massacre, prosecutors filed 58 separate murder charges against 197 people, including the senior Mr. Ampatuan and his son. Those charged included 70 members of the Philippine police and military, who prosecutors say were working for the Ampatuan clan. More than 80 of the suspects remain at large.
Abigail Valte, a spokeswoman for President Benigno S. Aquino III, told a local radio station on Saturday that the death of Mr. Ampatuan would not derail the trial.
“The case will proceed against the other accused who remain alive,” she said.
Harry Roque, a lawyer representing the families of 15 of the journalists who were killed in a civil case against the Ampatuans that is being conducted along with the criminal trial, said that Mr. Ampatuan’s death would undermine the leadership of the defense. “It means that they don’t have a patriarch to make those strategic decisions regarding the case,” he said. Even with Mr. Ampatuan gone, he added, “We can still hold the estate liable for damages.”
No one has been convicted in the killings, and the trial has been marred by delays, the murder of witnesses and allegations that prosecutors have been bribed. Human rights and media freedom advocates have criticized the slow pace of the trial and questioned whether anyone will ever be convicted.
“It has been in judicial limbo for quite some time, and families of the victims are naturally anxious about whether justice will be attained in the near term,” said Carlos H. Conde of Human Rights Watch in the Philippines. “Andal Sr.’s death only serves to heighten their anxiety and concern, given how slow the judicial process has been on this case and given as well the seemingly determined efforts to frustrate justice by, among others, murdering, intimidating and harassing witnesses against the powerful Ampatuan clan.”
The Maguindanao Massacre, as the episode has come to be known, was one of the deadliest single cases worldwide involving the killing of journalists. The 31 media workers who died were among 147 journalists who have been killed in the Philippines since 1986, according to the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, based in Manila.
Andal Ampatuan Sr., Suspect in Philippine Massacre, Dies During Trial
Originally Posted by æRLO
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