Dato andal ampatuan biography

Filipino former politician convicted for the Maguindanao massacre

In this Philippine name, the middle name or maternal family name is Uy and the surname or paternal family name is Ampatuan.

Andal Uy Ampatuan Jr. (born August 15, 1976) is a Filipino convicted mass murderer and former politician. He is one of the main perpetrators of the Maguindanao massacre along with his father, brothers, and nephews. At the time of the massacre, he was the outgoing mayor of Datu Unsay, Maguindanao, and was planning to run for provincial governor, the position his father, Andal Sr., was set to vacate. Esmael Mangudadatu, from a rival political clan, declared his candidacy for the 2010 gubernatorial elections, thus challenging Ampatuan for the post. The Ampatuans carried out the massacre to kill Mangudadatu.

On December 19, 2019, Andal Ampatuan Jr., alongside his brother Zaldy and other co-accused, were convicted of 57 counts of murder and sentenced to reclusión perpetua.

Role in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre

Main article: Maguindanao massacre

Ampatuan came to international attention in November

Mobilized and clad in black, a group of Philippine journalists symbolically laid down their notebooks, microphones, and cameras in the street to observe a moment of silence outside Malacañang Palace, the seat of national government in the Philippines.

The gesture was part of a wider protest on Wednesday calling upon President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to ensure justice for the victims of the Maguindanao massacre, in which at least 30 journalists and support staff were among the 57 people brutally killed in a premeditated attack outside of Ampatuan on the southern island of Mindanao.

The march and rally in Manila was one of many held around the world in front of Philippine embassies and government offices in a global day of action against what has been characterized as the single largest attack against working journalists ever recorded. A number of suspects linked to the area’s ruling Ampatuan clan, including Andal Ampatuan Jr, the mayor of Dato Unsay town, have been arrested and charged for the premeditated mass murder.

CPJ participated in a recently concluded joint mission led by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) to express solidarity with our Philippine journalist colleagues and join the call on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s government to take decisive action to ensure a swift and transparent trial and end the culture of impunity in media killings across the country.   

The multi-group delegation—including the Southeast Asian Press Alliance, the Indonesian Alliance of Independent Journalists, International Media Support, the Thai Journalists’ Association and others—traveled to Mindanao’s General Santos City to meet with local journalists, the relatives of victims, and local prosecutors responsible for building a case against the suspects.

Our meeting with the slain journalists’ family members put faces to the m

Case Summary and Outcome

In December 2019, the Regional Trial Court, National Capital Judicial Region Branch 221, Quezon City of the Philippines, convicted Andal Ampatuan Jr., his brother Zaldy Ampatuan and twenty-six other accomplices, including senior police officers, for the mass murder of 58 persons, including 32 journalists. This incident is also known as the Maguindanao massacre. They were sentenced to a penalty of imprisonment of ‘Reclusion Perpetua without Parole’ i.e. jail-time upto 40 years without parole. The principal accused were also directed to pay damages to the heirs of the victims. The 32 journalists killed were part of the convoy of 58 people, who were on their way to file the certificate of candidacy on behalf of the opposition candidate running against the politician, Datu Andal Ampatuan, Jr “Unsay” (of the powerful Ampatuan clan) for the governorship of Maguindanao. These journalists were reporting on the event. The Court heldthat the killings qualified as murder, since it satisfied the first and fifth provisions of Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) which provided that a person would be guilty of murder, when the killing of another is committed “(1) With treachery, taking advantage of superior strength, with the aid of armed men, or employing means to weaken the defense or of means or persons to insure or afford impunity” and “(5) With evident premeditation.” With respect to damages, the Court reasoned that since the deaths were caused due to crimes committed by the accused, civil indemnity in the form of damages had to be paid. On the other hand, actual damage including the loss of earning capacity had to be determined individually, depending on the evidence presented by each heir of the victims.

Facts

The November 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre resulted in the execution of a convoy of 58 persons, including 32 journalists, who were on their way to the office of the Commission on Elections to file the candidacy