Rights groups blame GMA for Ampatuans’ reign of terror
By Michaela P. del Callar 11/17/2010A prominent human rights watchdog yesterday blamed what it called a two-decade reign of terror of the Ampatuan warlord clan on former President Arroyo’s political patronage of the Ampatuans, saying this allowed them to amass great wealth and unchecked power, strengthen various militia forces, increase the sale of military weaponry and ensure impunity for rights abuses in Maguindanao.
The clan was charged over the country’s worst political massacre that killed dozens of other people during a two-decade reign of terror, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report published yesterday.
The New York-based group, in its 96-page report released ahead of the first anniversary of the gruesome Maguindanao massacre, entitled “They Own the People,” denounced the culture of impunity in the province.
HRW said it had spoken to witnesses, including ex-members of the Ampatuan militia, about the murders of at least 56 other people stretching back to 2001, many of them tortured and killed with chainsaws.
The report said AmpatuanSr., an ex-leader of a paramilitary force trained by the state to fight Muslim rebels, and his relatives engaged in targeted killings, abductions, torture, and sexual assault in and around Maguindanao.... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101117hed2.html
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