Woman accuses 2 Ampatuan clan members of rape

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A Maguindanaon woman has accused over a regional television network two members of the Ampatuan clan—including former Energy Undersecretary Zamzamin Ampatuan—of forcing her to have sex with eight men tagged in the Maguindanao massacre.

The woman, who was identified only as “Jam,” claimed that on May 10, Ampatuan and his brother, Mayor Hadji Yakub Ampatuan of Rajah Buayan town, were in her village of Bakat, also in Rahaj Buayan.

She did not say how they met but she alleged that the two Ampatuans coerced her into having sex with the massacre suspects, who had been supposedly hiding in her village. The suspects were unidentified.

Sought for comment, the former energy undersecretary said he did not react to the accusation because “I initially thought it was a joke.”

Ampatuan is now barangay chair of Sapakan, also in Rajah Buayan.

On the same day, May 26, that she made the allegation on TV, Jam filed an affidavit-complaint with the police.

Bakat village chair Ibrahim Dagandal said it was the second time he heard of Jam complaining about sexual abuse.

He said that on May 10, her parents filed a rape complaint against Mike Upam, believed to be Jam’s boyfriend, before a revolutionary court of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front under Ustadz Abdulwahid Tondok.

Dagandal said he reprimanded Jam’s parents for bypassing barangay (village) authority.

Support for the Ampatuan brothers has been appearing in their Facebook accounts, and text messages have been circulating in this city expressing skepticism over the rape accusation.