By Luke Hunt
Gavin Greenwood, an analyst with the Hong Kong-based security firm Allan & Associates, says the Philippine military, political and regional elites have long been linked to tribal and family clans such as the Ampatuans.
‘Political violence is endemic in the Philippines,’ he says. ‘The impact of the Maguindanao massacre reflects the scale of the killings rather than the use of extreme force.’
Andal Jr. is the scion of the powerful Ampatuan family and the alleged mastermind of the November massacre. His father, Andal Senior, was Maguindanao governor at the time of the murders, while another two siblings–Zaldy and younger brother Sajid–and a cousin Akmad Ampatuan have also been implicated.
The family is Muslim but beyond that, their adherence to The Koran–often interpreted as a warrior’s code–is questionable. They commanded a combined force of about 500 to 600 men that had a hard-won reputation for bullying and had been at loggerheads with the Mangudadatus for months.
‘The clan militias are an integral part of the country’s traditional system of governance and control,’ Greenwood says. ‘Their actions at a local level are often key drivers in fuelling the NPA and Moro insurgencies.’
When the ASG first emerged just over a decade ago, they proved themselves just as capable of inflicting the same type of savagery that befell the hapless victims in Maguindanao. JI, meanwhile, was working quietly in the background, in cahoots with al-Qaida.
Their campaign for an Islamic state would lead to a string of bombings, including the 2002 attacks on Bali that left more than 200 dead. And they made up just two of the groups that formed an alphabet soup of insurgent groups that bedevilled the Philippines.
The New Peoples Army (NPA) runs the communist insurgency while the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was founded on more traditional values and remains prominent. Its predecessor, the Moro National Liberation Front, had fought for an autonomous region that was forged out of 1976 peace talks brokered by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
But that agreement, like so many that followed, failed to meet expectations, and the MNLF splintered with militants, forging the MILF to lead a renewed push for a Moro homeland and autonomous rule.
Their war is over indigenous rights as opposed to militant Islamic dictates that crave a wider sovereign border that traverses international borders and imposes Sharia Law. It’s an important point, and one not lost on Washington, which has supported negotiations with the MILF while running a military campaign against JI and the 16 factions that make up the ASG.
The multiple layers of these insurgent groups share a common history and a common enemy in Christian Manila, making for sometimes convenient bed partners. But the failed peace deals and cross-pollination has also blurred the distinctions that once separated ‘noble’ causes from banditry and extortion that in turn has formed the foundations on which the Ampatuan clan built its powerbase.
Unable to score an outright victory against the MILF in the south, governments in Manila were forced into a multitude of individual deals with a myriad of factions who could negotiate and enforce a local peace.
‘The last decade has been the fiefdom of the Ampatuan family,’ the International Crisis Group (ICG) noted in its study of the massacre. ‘Political patronage by successive governments in Manila, most notably by the Arroyo administration, allowed the Ampatuans to amass great wealth and unchecked power…[including] possession of a private arsenal with mortars, rocket launchers and state-of-the-art assault rifles. They controlled the police, the judiciary, and the local election commission.’
Fearing an outbreak of clan violence after the arrests, more than 500 families fled Maguindanao and have not returned since.
The Stigma in Manila
The political ramifications for Manila of all of this are enormous, and the massacre could not have come at a worst time, as Arroyo attempts to re-shape her political stock for the May 10 elections.
The constitution only allows a president to sit for a single six-year term. However, Arroyo intends to run for congress, where a seat would offer her limited immunity against any future prosecution.
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If only the Philippine government would invest more effort in addressing the problems in Mindanao, the country would be a lot more stable and peaceful. The problem is, the government doesn’t give much important to this part of the country because a lot of the wealthy and influencial people are not living in this part of the country! Much of our national budget is spent on the Metro Manila area and only a few trikles on the rest of the country. I think its high time that the country should shift to a federal form so that the people of Mindanao will have their own policy makers and run their own affairs according to whats best for them. People in Manila couldn’t fix the problem in Mindanao because they have little knowledge in the culture and lifestyle of people in Mindanao! They only read about these things in books that, for my part, are rarely accurate! The former senator, Raul Roco, have exposed anomalies in the Department of Education in the procurement of textbooks and an expat here in Cebu has exposed that the textbook used by the students here have a lot of errors in its content but still the department of education didn’t do anything about it! You see, historically, our past have been padded by our own historical writers, its a hypocritical writing of our history! it’s a history of hypocritical accounts. If we can correct our past, maybe, we can solve our problems by being aware of the mistakes in the past. It won’t “just the it is here”.
Bill.
I live in the Philippines now and have been here for 2 years. There are distinct ties between the Manila elites and the problems in Mindanao. It is common knowledge, but, in a country where most people are just trying to survive, something happening elsewhere is not of importance unless it directly affects them.
This country is run be a few billionaire families that were in power when we gave the Filipinos their “freedom” over 50 years ago. The US has helped these wealthy families to maintain control in the years since. The US is to blame for many of the problems occurring here by the lack of concern for our one-time colony. But, as there is nothing here that our US elites want, the Philippines are ignored. Too bad. They are a really great people who just want a chance.