Binay defends Ampatuan backing

Vice President Jejomar Binay on Thursday 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 Thursday, Binay, who won big in Mindanao in the vice presidential 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 Gov. 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.

“Excuse me ha, that kid, that Mayor was detained for five years and, based on the evidence, he was granted bail,” he said.

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 said.

Asked if he would take back the endorsement, Binay said: “Wala nang balikan ’yon (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 P12 million in bail. His brothers remain in detention while the trial is slowing making 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 Thursday.