Ampatuan patriarch ‘dying of cancer’ – lawyer

MANILA, Philipppines – The patriarch of a political clan who is on trial for the Maguindanao massacre is dying of liver cancer, his lawyer said Thursday, July 2.

Andal Ampatuan Sr., who is confined at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute in Quezon City, was told by his doctor that he had 3 to 6 months to live, lawyer Salvador Panelo told Agence France-Presse.

“We are asking the court to allow his continued hospital confinement,” Panelo said.

He had been in hospital for almost 2 months since complaining of abdominal pains while held in his maximum security jail.

Ampatuan Sr, along with his son, Andal “Unsay” Ampatuan Jr, are the principal accused in the massacre of 58 individuals, including 32 journalists, in Maguindanao in November 2009. There are 100 co-accused.

The Ampatuan clan was believed to have plotted the massacre to thwart the gubernatorial candidacy of rival Esmael Mangudadatu for the 2010 May elections. Mangudadatu won and is still the governor of Maguindanao.

The court trying Ampatuan could not be contacted for comment.

Slow trial

The murder trial of the elder Ampatuan and 7 other clan members has moved excruciatingly slowly over the past five years.

The brazenness and brutality of the crime shocked the world, prompting President Benigno Aquino III, who took office in 2010, to work for a resolution of the court proceedings before he steps down from office next year.

But given the notoriously slow Philippine justice system, there are fears the trial will still not be completed before his term ends.

The Ampatuan patriarch ruled Maguindanao as governor for a decade with a private army tolerated by then president Gloria Arroyo who used his forces as a buffer against Muslim insurgents.

One of his sons and co-accused, Sajid Ampatuan, was released on bail in May.

A month earlier, in April, a local court denied Ampatuan Senior’s plea for bail, saying that evidence against him is strong.

Many other suspects, including Ampatuan clan members, remain at large while human rights groups and victims’ relatives say witnesses are being killed or intimidated to try to sabotage the case.

The Philippines has long been blighted by a “culture of impunity” in which the powerful believe they can commit crimes like murder and escape unpunished. – Rappler.com