Mangudadatu to ailing Ampatuan Sr.: Repent!
Maguindanao Gov. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu. AP FILE PHOTO
DAVAO CITY – Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu on Tuesday said he wished that Andal Ampatuan Sr., the patriarch of the Ampatuan clan accused of masterminding the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, would repent for his crime now that he is diagnosed with a “terminal” liver cancer.
“I’m still praying for him to repent,” Mangudadatu said, when asked about the report that the former Maguindanao governor, is terminally ill.
Mangudadatu – whose wife and sister were among the 58 people, 32 of them journalists, waylaid and killed in 2009 – said he knew how painful it is to be sick of cancer because his mother also died of one.
BACKSTORY: Ampatuan Sr. has 3 to 6 months to live, court told
Over a hundred members and followers of the Ampatuan clan are now facing trial in the Quezon City Regional Trial Court for the massacre, dubbed as the worst election-related violence in the country.
“If he’d say sorry at this time to the victims of the Maguindanao massacre, maybe he can still be forgiven but still, justice has to be served,” Mangudadatu told the Inquirer by phone.
He advised Andal Sr. to seek forgiveness from the relatives of the massacre victims.
“I am willing to visit him in the hospital if he seeks forgiveness,” he said in another interview with reporters.
Reports said Andal Sr. has only three to six months to live.
As believer of Islam, Mangudadatu said he was ready to forgive.
“I am only human, I can forgive,” Mangudadatu said. “But it does not follow that I should rest the case against Andal Sr., his sons and others.”
He said he is consulting with his lawyers to find a way to independently check on the real health status of Andal Sr. to erase all the doubts that the illness is only made up.
“Once an independent prosecution physician would corroborate the findings of Andal’s physician, and he seeks forgiveness, I will come and visit him,” said Mangudadatu.
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