More raps eyed vs Ampatuans after discovery of remains in Maguindanao

Some member of the Ampatuan clan may be facing additional murder charges after government authorities unearthed two skeletal remains — believed to be victims of Ampatuan atrocities — in properties allegedly owned by the family in Maguindanao province.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Justice Sec. Leila de Lima said the remains were discovered over the weekend by a team of investigators in two properties supposedly owned by the Ampatuans in Shariff Aguak town, their political stronghold.

Asked if the discovery would mean more charges against the Ampatuans, De Lima said, “Definitely."

“I was the one who directed the operations. We quietly worked on that after leads and information by [former] Vice Mayor Sukarno Badal," she said.

Badal, former vice mayor of Sultan sa Barongis town, is under the protective custody of the military. He admitted being an Ampatuan ally once, and that he was one of the gunmen in the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre of 57 people, including 32 journalists, in Ampatuan town.

De Lima said one of the remains was dug up from an “open cornfield plantation" allegedly owned by suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy Ampatuan, one of the suspects in the massacre.

She added that the other set of remains was found in an open plantation owned by the principal suspect in the massacre, former Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr.

De Lima said the second victim may have been killed four years ago using a chainsaw, although she added that this needs verification from forensic experts.

“I asked the SOCO [Scene of the Crime Operatives] if we will be able to identify... the cause of death. Like, were they shot? Stabbed? Or chainsawed?" said De Lima.

The government first learned of the alleged inhumane acts of the Ampatuan clan in 2008 through an anonymous letter sent to the office of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. It is believed that the number of victims could reach as high as 200.

The supposed killings were said to have begun in 1998, when clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr., also a suspect in the November 2009 carnage, was elected governor of the province — a reign that ended only in 2010. (report from Sophia Dedace/KBK, GMA News)