‘Mangudadatu using power, massacre issue to unseat all Ampatuans’

DATU Unsay Mayor Bai Reshal Santiago Ampatuan called on Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to investigate the alleged abuses of Maguindanao Governor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu.

Bai Reshal, first wife of former Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., in her letter to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima dated March 31, said the governor is using his position and the 2009 Maguindanao massacre to drive the remaining Ampatuans out of office.

“Since we have been duly elected by the constituents, Governor Toto has resorted to using his power to unseat all those who opposed him so that he could replace them with his own trusted men,” Bai Reshal said in her letter.

“Yes, we know that Gov. Toto has lost some of his family members in the November 2009 incident but he shouldn’t use the tragedy as a license to commit abuses and persecute all those whom he thinks are against him,” she added.

In her letter, she recounted the events in which Mangudadatu allegedly used his power to intimidate and harass his political enemies.

On June 28, 2014, she said it was the men of Mangudadatu led by a certain Kagui Akmad Baganian Ampatuan who burned the house of her husband. She said they learned it from one of Mangudadatu’s men. The case is already before the Cotabato City Regional Trial Court.

Bai Reshal added that fabricated cases were also being filed against her and their remaining relatives, citing the case of Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao Mayor Zahara Ampatuan, whom she said was wrongly linked to the death of a man in Shariff Aguak.

Bai Reshal was recently slapped with a case for 58 complaints for murder in connection with the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre where Mangudadatu’s wife, siblings, 32 journalists and several others were killed. She is among the 14 Ampatuans recently included in the second wave of complaints in the case.

“The filing of cases against the members of the opposition in Maguindanao is very suspicious, especially that 2016 elections is just around the corner. Clearly, all of this is politically motivated,” Bai Reshal said.

“I am asking for your [De Lima’s] help because I feel that your [De Lima’s] department were being used by Gov. Mangudadatu for his own vested interest,” she added.

INQUIRER.net has called and sent text messages to Mangudadatu to get his side but we are still waiting for a response. AC