Women’s group wants deeper probe of rape report vs Ampatuans

COTABATO CITY  —A women rights group is demanding further investigation of the complaint filed by a Maguindanao woman against two members of the Ampatuan clan for alleged rape.

In a complaint filed at the police, the victim accused Zamzamin Ampatuan, former energy undersecretary, and his brother, Mayor Hadji Yakub Ampatuan of Rajah Buayan town, of forcing her to have sex with eight men in a village in Rajah Buayan on May 10.

The victim came out on regional TV to air the complaint.

The men who raped her, the victim said, are hiding in connection with the Maguindanao massacre for which key members of the Ampatuan clan are now on trial.

The victim, however, sought the help of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on the same day that she was allegedly forced to have sex with eight men, and had accused her boyfriend of rape.

There was no mention of the Ampatuan siblings in the complaint she filed with the MILF, according to MILF commander Ustadz Wahid Tondok.

Bai Ali Indaila, of Kawagib, a women’s rights group here, said an independent investigation was needed because of the two conflicting versions of the woman’s complaint.

Zamzamin, now a village chair of Sapakan in Rajah Buayan, said the allegations against him and his brother might be connected with a rape case he was helping follow up with 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 the victim’s story was brought to the attention of the network through a call from an Orly Utto.

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

Col. Ernesto Aradanas, former chief of the Army’s 603rd Brigade in Matanog, Maguindanao, said he was “not inclined to believe” the victim’s story.

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