Philippine vice-president defends Ampatuan backing

MANILA: Vice-president Jejomar Binay stood by his acceptance of the endorsement of his presidential candidacy by the notorious Ampatuan clan, and in turn he endorsed the mayoral run of one of the clan’s members who is facing trial for the 2009 Maguindanao massacre.

Speaking to reporters while on the campaign trail in Quezon City yesterday, Binay, who won big in Mindanao in the vicepresidential race in 2010, said there was no turning away from the endorsement he received from members of the Ampatuan clan during his visit to Maguindanao on Tuesday.

Binay said he in turn endorsed Shariff Aguak mayoral candidate Sajid Ampatuan, the youngest son of the late Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr, who was implicated as a mastermind of the Nov 23, 2009, massacre of 58 people, including 32 journalists, in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao.

“I endorsed him,” Binay told reporters yesterday. “He was detained for five years and based on the evidence, he was granted bail.”

The United Nationalist Alliance (Una) standard-bearer said bail is granted to an accused when the evidence against him is weak.

“According to what I heard, he was the only one who was not in the area (during the massacre),” Binay added.

Asked if he would take back the endorsement, he said: “You can’t take it back. You raised his hand. That means he’s your candidate.”

Along with his father, siblings Zaldy, Anwar and Andal Jr, and brother-in-law Akmad, the younger Ampatuan was tagged in the 2009 carnage linked to the local electoral campaign.

Sajid, who is running under Una’s local ticket, was released in March 2015 after posting nearly 12 million pesos (RM1mil) in bail. His brothers remain in detention as the trail slowly makes its way through the courts.

The victims were slain while on their way to file the certificate of candidacy for governor of then vice-mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, who was challenging the Ampatuan clan’s dominance of Maguindanao.

Now the incumbent governor, Mangudadatu survived an assassination attempt in Datu Salibo town yesterday.