Mangudadatu retraces massacre

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu filed yesterday his certificate of candidacy (COC) for a second term at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Cotabato City.

On his way to the Comelec, Mangudadatu passed the same route that his wife and 57 others took when they were killed in November 2009.

Mangudadatu’s wife Genalyn, along with supporters and journalists, had tried to file the COC for governor of her husband when an armed band stopped them.

Subsequently, they were dragged to a hilly area where they were killed and hastily buried, and the slaughter came to be known as the “Maguindanao massacre.”

Mangudadatu first visited the grave of Genalyn in Buluan town before he and his partymates motored to the Comelec via the Cotabato-Isulan Highway straddling several towns that the once feared Ampatuan clan had controlled.

Mangudadatu, his vice gubernatorial running mate Datu Odin, Maguindanao Mayor Lester Sinsuat and their entire slate for the provincial board filed their COCs before Comelec provincial director for Maguindanao Udtog Tago.

Mangudadatu is the Liberal Party (LP) provincial chairman for Maguindanao.

Accompanying Mangudadatu to the Comelec was Maguindanao Rep. Sandra Sema, who also filed her COC for the same post.

Sema, wife of Cotabato City Vice Mayor Muslimin Sema, belongs to a big political clan whose members are scattered in several barangays in Cotabato City and the adjoining towns of Datu Odin, Datu Blah, and North Upi in the first district of Maguindanao.

Two of Sema’s close relatives, Asnawi Limbona and Ronnie Sinsuat, also filed their COCs as LP candidates for board member and for a seat in the Regional Assembly of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, respectively.

Sema said she would focus on supporting President Aquino’s peace agenda for Mindanao if elected to a second term.

“The Mindanao peace process is so important,” she said. “We should make it succeed.”

Mangudadatu’s younger brother, Pandag, Maguindanao Mayor Datu Zajid filed his COC for representative of the second district of Maguindanao.

Another sibling, Datu Khadafy, is also seeking a third term in the ARMM Regional Assembly.

Mangudadatu said he will focus his campaign on peace and solidarity among Maguindanao’s Moro and Christian communities.

“Peace and political solidarity among all sectors in the province will prevent a repeat of the Maguindanao massacre and hasten the attainment of lasting peace and sustainable development in the province,” he said.

Mangudadatu said he and his partymates will do away with mudslinging during their campaign sorties.

“We will only go for meaningful, peaceful dialogue with voters in the 36 towns of Maguindanao, a total turnaround from usually noisy rallies where speakers attack rivals verbally and even ridicule them just to put them down,” he said.

Mangudadatu said his main focus is the reconciliation of dozens of warring clans in Maguindanao.

“We have settled more than 10 family feuds already and we intend to settle more before the 2013 elections,” he said.

Mangudadatu is facing Sultan Kudarat Mayor Hadji Tucao Mastura, Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) provincial chairman, in his bid for a second term as governor of Maguindanao.

Mastura’s running mate, vice gubernatorial candidate Kagui Ali Midtimbang, is a scion of Moro royalty in the second district of Maguindanao, whose clan wields influence over voters in the adjoining Guindulungan, Talayan and Datu Anggal towns.

Mangudadatu said he is ready to sign a Comelec-brokered peace covenant with Mastura to bind them to abide by the Omnibus Election Code.

“I’m willing to commit, with pride and honor, to efforts of the Comelec to ensure peaceful and honest elections in Maguindanao next year,” he said.

Victims’ kin testifies

A sister of a victim in the Maguindanao massacre testified in court yesterday that her sister had asked a colleague on the day they were killed to contact a lawyer of the Ampatuans to request them “to stop it.”– John Unson, Janvic Mateo