Among those killed were 30 journalists and their staff who were to cover the filing of Mangudadatu’s candidacy papers.
The massacre was unprecedented even for the country notorious for election violence and political killings that have claimed hundreds of lives this decade. Only the war crime trials of World War II Japanese commanders in the Philippines involved higher numbers of victims.
“I would say it is the biggest [trial] since the war, but I would even say in Philippine history because I don’t put this in the same category of wars or those political crimes where you talk of numbers of victims,’’ said Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera.
“Legally, it will take a little while because every accused has a right,’’ she said.
Mangudadatu, who said he had received death threats from the Ampatuans, sent his wife and other female relatives and supporters to the provincial capital in the hope that his rival would not harm the women.
Before yesterday’s indictment, only the patriarch’s son, Andal Ampatuan Jr., had been formally charged.
“From the witnesses presented . . . it can be deduced that the commission of the crime was planned deliberately by the perpetrators and that, until its consummation, there was an inexorable resolve to kill,’’ the indictment document said. “Consequently, their plan was carried out leading to the mass murder.’’
Andal Ampatuan Jr. has pleaded not guilty and is seeking bail.
No date has been set for the arraignment of his father, brothers, and the others accused.
The 69-year-old clan patriarch, an ally of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, has denied any involvement and said the charges have been fabricated.
