Mayor charged with 25 counts of murder

Manila: The department of justice on Tuesday filed 25 counts of murder against a detained mayor who is a prime suspect in the killing of 64 people in the southern Philippines on November 23.

The slain include female relatives and supporters of his political rival, female lawyers, and 30 journalists — several of whom were women.

The charges were filed against Andal Ampatuan Jr, the mayor of Datu Unsay in Maguindanao, before a local court in Cotabato City in the south, Chief Prosecutor Jovencito Zuno said.

More murder charges are expected to be filed when other medical and legal reports on the Maguindanao massacre victims are compiled, Zuno said.

Prosecutors from the justice department have two boxes of sworn affidavits from witnesses, including those who participated in the murder, who were interviewed during an investigation that began on November 24, said Senior State Prosecutor Leo Dacera.

Trial transfer

The prosecutors will also ask the local regional trial court in the south to transfer the trial to Metro Manila for security reasons, Ricardo Diaz, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) spokesman, said.

The young Ampatuan gave himself up in the south last week. He is currently being held at the NBI head office in Manila.

Ampatuan reportedly ordered some 100 armed men to stop and kill a convoy led by the wife of Esmail Mangudadatu, the incumbent vice-mayor of Buluan town, who wanted to run as a governor of Maguindanao in 2010.

Mangudadatu's wife and two sisters, female supporters and lawyers, journalists and some motorists were brutally murdered and buried in a shallow mass grave off a remote road in Ampatuan town on November 23. Andal Ampatuan Sr, Maguindanao's governor for three terms, wanted his young son to be his successor.

The Ampatuans and the Mangudadatus have long been rivals in local politics in the region.

Apart from the young Ampatuan, other members of the clan holding office in the south were also implicated in the mass murder.

They include the elder Ampatuan, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Governor Zaldy Ampatuan, Maguindanao acting Governor Sajid Ampatuan, Mamasapano Mayor Bahnarin Ampatuan, and Salibo Vice Mayor Datu Kanor Ampatuan.

Bloody prelude to polls

The massacre was a bloody prelude to elections scheduled for May. Campaign violence is relatively common in the Philippines — 130 died in the run-up to the last elections — but the brazen convoy attack was shocking for its ruthlessness and scale.

Arroyo has declared a state of emergency in Maguindanao and a neighbouring province and ordered troops and police to confiscate unlicensed weapons and restore order.

However, few think the measures will go far enough in a lawless region notorious for political warlords and that has been outside the central government's control for generations.

Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera said she would ask the court to try the case elsewhere, fearing witnesses may become reluctant to testify over fears for their safety.

The Ampatuans denied any responsibility in the killings in a rare news conference in Shariff Aguak on Sunday.