SUMMARY

The Ampatuan family, and its private army the Ampatuan militia, has for a long time been in control of the political power in Maguindanao province on the island of Mindanao. Since 2001, the head of the family, Andal Ampatuan Sr. has been the governor of Maguindanao province and has used his position to extend his family’s influence in the region. Ampatuans have been assigned important political positions and the family has created their own private army with over 2000 well-equipped men.

In the 2010 elections, Andal Sr. was not allowed to stand for governor as he had already been elected three times. His plan was that his son, Andal Ampatuan Jr. would take over his position. However, Toto Mangudadatu, a previous ally of the Ampatuans and the head of the Mangudadatu family, decided to file his candidacy for Maguindanao governor.

The filing period opened on 19 November 2009, and on the 23, a convoy of vehicles carrying Toto Mangudadatu’s family and friends, as well as 30 journalists, left the town of Buluan for Shariff Aguak, the capital municipality of Maguindanao province. At a checkpoint along the road, they were stopped by around 100 armed men from the Ampatuan militia. The victims were taken to a mountainous area where they were killed and thrown into hastily dug mass graves. It took the Philippine military several days to recover the bodies of the 57 people that were massacred. Many of the female victims had been sexually abused and their sexual organs had been mutilated.

Of the 57 people killed, at least 32 were journalists, making the attack the single deadliest event for journalists in the history of journalism. Among the killed were also Mangudadatu’s wife and several of his sisters. In the aftermath of the massacre, martial law was declared in Maguindanao and the military made an effort to disarm the Ampatuan militia. Nearly 200 members of the Ampatuan family were arrested and charged with murder. In the 2010 elections, Toto Mangudadatu won and became the new governor of Maguindanao province.

The Ampatuan militia first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2009, when the one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in November that year when 57 civilians, including at least 32 journalists, were killed in an attack in Maguindanao province on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.