The accused mastermind, Andal Ampatuan Jr., of the November 23 Maguindanao Massacre was again plead not guilty to 16 addition murder cases filed against him. Ampatuan Jr., a member of a politically powerful Muslim clan that was once allied to President Gloria Arroyo, impassively entered fresh pleas of “not guilty” as relatives of some of the dead wept outside the courtroom. Ampatuan, assisted by his lawyer Sigfrid Fortun, entered the plea during the continuation of his bail hearing at Camp Crame in the courtroom of Quezon City Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes.

Andal Ampatuan Jr. is accused of ordering his armed followers to kill about 57 people in the southern province of Maguindanao on November 23 last year in order to prevent a rival from running against him in May elections. The victims included Ampatuan’s rival’s wife and pregnant sister, as well as 30 journalists.

Prosecutors allege the defendant and up to 100 members of his private army stopped the convoy on a highway in Maguindanao, kidnapped the victims at gunpoint and took them to a hillside where they were shot dead.

They were then buried in mass graves, dug by a government-supplied backhoe, intended for civil works projects.
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