Doubts aired over rape case vs 2 Ampatuan clan members

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—A women rights group has sought further investigation into the allegations of a Maguindanaon woman that she was raped by several men, on the orders of former energy undersecretary Zamzamin Ampatuan and his mayor-brother, Hadji Yakub Ampatuan of Rajah Buayan town.

Bai Ali Indaila of Kawagib, a women’s rights group here, said an independent probe should be held because of two conflicting versions of story the woman had issued.

In her complaint before the police, which she filed after telling her story on regional television, Jam (not her real name), claimed that the Ampatuan siblings coerced her into having sex with eight men in Barangay (village) Bakat, also in Rajah Buayan, on May 10.

The men were allegedly in hiding in connection with the Maguindanao massacre, in which 57 people – mostly journalists – were killed.

But on the same day the alleged coercion took place, Jam had filed a rape complaint with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) against her reported boyfriend Mike Upam.

There was no mention of the Ampatuan siblings in her complaint with the MILF, as confirmed by MILF commander Ustadz Wahid Tondok.

Zamzamin, now a village chair of Sapakan in Rajah Buayan, said the allegations against him and his brother might have something to do with a rape case he was investigating with the police against an Unsek Utto Omar.

A woman from Barangay Mileb, he said, had accused Omar of sexually abusing her on May 24.

Lerio Bompat of the ABS-CBN station here said Jam’s story was brought to their attention by a call from an Orly Utto.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer learned that Unsek Utto Omar, the suspect in the Barangay Mileb rape case, and Orly Utto were cousins.

Colonel Ernesto Aradanas, former chief of the Army’s 603rd Brigade in Matanog, Maguindanao, said he was “not inclined to believe (the Jam rape story).”

“If there are bad Ampatuans, there are also a lot of good ones, including Zamzamin and his brother,” he said.