Philippine massacre charges filed

The killings sparked outrage across the Philippines and embarassed the country's president [AFP]

Prosecutors in the Philippines have formally filed 25 murder charges against a man accused of leading a election-related massacre on the southern island of Mindanao that outraged the nation.
The charges against Andal Ampatuan Jr, the son of the governor of Maguindanao province, were filed in a court in the southern city of Cotabato, which has jurisdiction over the site of the massacre.
According to prosecutors, at least 10 witnesses have said Ampatuan Jr led the gang of gunmen that carried out the killings of political campaigners and journalists.
Ampatuan Jr has denied the charges.
Prosecutors allege armed followers of the Ampatuan clan murdered 57 people including the wife and two sisters of their political rival, Esmael Mangudadatu.
Also among those killed were journalists, lawyers and other civilians.

Political rivalry

Edilberto Jamora, the prosecutor in the case, said Ampatuan Jr was only being charged with 25 murders so far because authorities had only processed 25 death certificates.
Ampatuan Jr is accused of leading the killings to prevent Mangudadatu from challenging him in the May 2010 race for governor of the province.
Ampatuan's father, together with six other clan members, have been summoned to submit affidavits in the investigation into the massacre in Maguindanao province.
They are also suspects in the investigation, but have not been charged.
The Ampatuans control many local positions in the southern province of Maguindanao and have hundreds of armed followers there.
Prosecutors said the killings were carefully planned and that more charges will follow.

'Strong evidence'

Jovencito Zuno, the chief state prosecutor, said at least one witness alleged that the Ampatuan clan had gathered in the patriarch's mansion in the provincial capital of Shariff Aguak days before to plan the killings.
The graves were dug in advance and a backhoe positioned to bury the bodies, prosecutors said.
Police said earlier they took into custody six officers, including the Maguindanao provincial police chief and his deputy.
Two inspectors among them were allegedly seen during the massacre with Ampatuan Jr, said Erickson Velasquez, head of the criminal investigation division.
The massacre has also embarrassed Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the Philippine president, who has longstanding ties with the Ampatuans.
Arroyo has declared a state of emergency in Maguindanao and a neighbouring province, ordering troops and police to confiscate unlicensed weapons and restore order.
But few think the measures will go far enough in the region which is notorious for its political warlords who have been outside the central government's control for generations.

Lifting martial law

CNN) -- Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo lifted martial law in the country's south, which she declared after the massacre of 57 people last month, Philippine news outlets reported Saturday.
The order lifting martial law was due to be effective at 9 p.m. (8 a.m. ET) Saturday, the Philippines News Agency (PNA) and CNN affiliate ABS-CBN said.
Military troops will remain in Maguindanao province to keep the peace despite the move, said Victor Ibrado, chief of staff of the Philippine armed forces, PNA said.
Arroyo imposed martial law December 4 but lifted it Saturday after deciding it had achieved its objectives, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said, according to PNA.
Local government was now back in power and the justice system was functioning again, he said.
Authorities have said the November 23 massacre in Maguindanao province was a politically motivated attempt to keep an opponent of the politically powerful Ampatuan family from running for governor.
Thirty journalists were among those killed.
The martial law allowed arrests without warrants, and at least six members of the Ampatuan family -- including a local mayor -- were arrested, according to ABS-CBN.
Authorities raided a warehouse and ranch belonging to the family last weekend and confiscated firearms, ammunition and vehicles, Maj. Randolph Cabangbang, deputy of operations for the eastern Mindanao command, told CNN.
Ermita said Saturday that three charges of multiple murders were filed in court, and that 24 people were charged with rebellion. The Philippine National Police has referred nearly 900 other cases to the Department of Justice, he said.
Violence in the run-up to elections is not uncommon in the Philippines. The Maguindanao massacre, however, is the worst politically motivated violence in recent Philippine history, according to state media.
The victims included the wife and sister of political candidate Ismael "Toto" Mangudadatu, who had sent the women to file paperwork allowing him to run for governor of Maguindanao. He said he had received threats from allies of Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., the father of the accused mayor, 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.