Andal Ampatuan Sr., one of the principal people accused in the Maguindano massacre in the Philippines, has died.
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The murder trial of the elder Ampatuan and seven other clan members has moved excruciatingly slowly over the past five years. A source who attended the burial rites said that he was interred at around 2:30 pm in the compound of his family’s mansion.
Andal Senior died at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute in Quezon City (Metro Manila) late Friday evening, days after he slipped into a coma following a heart attack, his lawyers said.
Andal Sr. was transferred from detention to the NKTI on June 5 for treatment of his end-stage liver cancer.
“When I saw news of his death today, it was mixed emotions”. It was also the world’s worst single killing of media workers.
The Philippines has always been blighted by a “culture of impunity” in which the powerful believe they can commit crimes like murder and escape unpunished. The slow pace of the trial has been criticized by the victims’ families.
‘He should have paid for his sins’.
He also pointed out that the site of the massacre in Ampatuan town is actually controlled by the Sangkis who are enemies of the Ampatuan clan.
“I cannot accept that he died due to sickness, that he died before he can be convicted”.
He had been in hospital for nearly two months since complaining of abdominal pains while held in his maximum security jail.
“It is very hard to forgive him”.
“It has no effect on the trial of the case. Her statement is thus criminally moronic”, said Atty. “I am innocent”. He was charged for masterminding the massacre that killed 58 people who were later buried with a backhoe. His remains had not been recovered but his denture was retrieved at the massacre site by police forensic technicians.
Prayers will be said for him before he is buried.
In a television interview, lawyer Salvador Panelo said Andal Sr. wanted to get well “because he wanted to let the Court know the side of the story of the Ampatuans”.
“It will be handed down by the presiding judge, so that is a reality that we have to live with”.
“Huwag kayo ang magiging dahilan ng delay sa kasong ‘yan”.
Widows of the victims reportedly said that they could not forgive Ampatuan and his family.
“Datu Andal Sr.’s death extinguishes his criminal liability, but not his civil liability for the massacre”, De Lima said, in a text message.
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According to the spokeswoman of President Benigno S. Aquino III, Abigail Valte, the case will go on against the Philippine massacre suspects who are still alive. It hardly seems possible that such a major undertaking, done precisely to eliminate a direct threat to Andal Sr. Mangudadatu was not in the convoy and he was elected as governor in 2010. In 1998, he set his sights for the gubernatorial post, but the Lakas-NUCD favored then incumbent Maguindanao Gov. Zacaria Candao.
