Topic: Amid the fighting, the clan rules in Maguindanao

[laitzu]

Jaileen Jimeno ng Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism wrote a backgrounder on the Ampatuan clan:


MAGUINDANAO — The sound of sirens precedes the passing of a long convoy of 4×4 sport utility vehicles. As if on cue, jeepneys and private vehicles begin moving to the right side of the street, where they all then ground to halt.

“Kailangan tumabi ka, kasi babanggain ka nila. Palalabasin nilang kaaway ka (You have to get out of their way, otherwise they’ll hit your car. And then they’ll make it appear you’re one of their enemies),” explains an old man watching the scene by the roadside.

Asked if he knows whose convoy of black, heavily tinted vehicles is whizzing by, the man replies without hesitation: “Si Governor. Ganyan ang mga sasakyan niya (That’s how his vehicles look like).”

In the last two weeks, this southern province has become one of the sites of a serial cat-and-mouse battle between soldiers and rebels from a faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), displacing thousands of people. But the armed clashes aside, residents here know that only one family wields real power in Maguindanao: the Ampatuans, led by its acknowledged patriarch, Governor Andal Ampatuan.

It may not only be peace between combatants but respite from political clans that Maguindanao needs.



A FAMILIAR SIGHT. A convoy of black, heavily tinted vehicles carrying the Ampatuans around Maguindanao. [photo by Jaileen Jimeno]


Read more here... http://pcij.org/stories/amid-the-fighting-the-clan-rules-in-maguindanao/

[gkhan]

Such braggadocio is so easy to clip if the Manila Government really wants to stop it.  Mr. Marcos gave a lesson in discipline when he put a stop to Crisologo was he was acting the big boy in Ilocos Sur before and that political wisdom Ms. Glorya can easily emulate - if she has the balls for it.  Otherwise, she can just throw the Anti Money Laundering Act on that guy and institute foreclosure proceedings immediately on all assets that can not be justified from his legal sources of income.  Without money to buy influence, buy guns, pay lawyers and pay bodyguards, he will find himself just a whimping boy.

C'mon Ms. Glorya, do what you have to do.  Your state of emergency is not being used to its full potential.  Why don't you just put the whole province of Maguindanao under Martial Law.  Even the US has instituted Martial Law in selected states several times in its history.

 

[jake_herras]

grabe talaga yang ampatuan walang awa yang mga yan kapag tumanggi ka sa gusto nila chainsaw aabutin mo sa kanila.