THE elected mayor of Datu Unsay, Maguindanao, has accused Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu of fabricating charges to silence his political rivals and persecute “innocent” members of the Ampatuan clan.
In a letter to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Datu Unsay Mayor Bai Reshal Ampatuan, one of the 50 new respondents in the second batch of case filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) in connection with the 2009 Ampatuan Massacre, said Mangudadatu is using the crime as a leverage to persecute his political enemies.
Bai Reshal claimed that most of the 50 new suspects in the 2009 massacre were political rivals of Mangudadatu.
Bai Reshal, the first wife of Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr., also asked de Lima to look into the abuses being committed by Mangudadatu and his allies in the province.
“I am asking for your [de Lima] help because I feel that your department is being used by Governor Mangudadatu for his own vested interest,” she said in her letter to the DOJ chief.
“Since we had been duly elected by the constituents, Gov. Toto [Mangudadatu] has resorted to using his power to unseat all those who opposed him so that he could replace them with his own trusted men,” she added.
While Bai Reshal said she commiserates with Mangudadatu for the loss of some of his family members in the November 2009 massacre, she said “he should not use the tragedy as a license to commit abuses and persecute all those whom he thinks are against him.”
In her letter to de Lima, Bai Reshal recounted how Mangudadatu allegedly used his power to intimidate and harass his political enemies.
She claimed that the governor ordered a certain Kagui Akmad Baganian Ampatuan to burn the house of her husband, Andal Jr., in June 28, 2014.
It can be recalled that Akmad is being considered as one of the principal witnesses against the new batch of suspects in the massacre and has been placed by de Lima under the Witness Protection Program.
Bai Reshal said they learned that Mangudadatu allegedly was responsible for the burning of their house from one of the suspects, who confessed those who were behind in the arson.
The case, she said, was already in the Regional Trial Court in Cotabato City.
As part of the alleged intimidation against their family, the incumbent mayor claimed that Mangudadatu had trumped-up charges against their remaining relatives, citing the case of Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao, Mayor Zahara Ampatuan, whom she said was wrongly linked to the death of a man in Shariff Aguak.
“Zahara, who is a woman and a mother, was forced to hide from authorities despite her ailments, not because she was guilty of the allegations against her, but due to the fact that she fear of going to jail despite her innocence,” Bai Reshal said.
After Zahara was charged with murder, Bai Reshal said Mangudadatu then linked her and her vice mayor and niece, Bai Janine Julhaya Mamalapat, to the killing of her uncle, Abdullah K. Ampatuan, in July 2013 by a certain Kaharudin Saudagal.
“The filing of cases against the members of the opposition in Maguindanao is very suspicious, especially that 2016 elections is just around the corner. Clearly, all of this is politically motivated,” Bai Reshal said.