Center For School & Personal Safety Research

Newsday November 27, 2009

• An ambush and  massacre of a convoy carrying of a political rival’s family, supporters and at least 22 journalists was found buried in mass graves hastily dug by a backhoe.
• In all, 57 were said to be shot at point blank range and some hacked up.
• All of this was traced to a rival vice mayor, Ismael Mangudadatu filing to run for governorship in the next election.  Having received death threats, Ismael sent his wife, sisters and other female relatives to submit papers on his behalf.
• The man arrested for the slaughter was the Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., 41, who headed up a large, powerful clan that ruled the area for years and were known for their ruthlessness.
• Prosecutors accuse him of leading a military and police force numbering 100 and forcing the victims to  a hilltop clearing where they wer gunned down and buried in mass graves.
• The mayor is under arrest and hundreds of pro-government militiamen have been disarmed since the massacre.  (He blamed the murders on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front who are known for past violence but who have denied having anything to do with the killings.)
• There is likely to be more trouble and revenge killings.