Fire damages Ampatuan house

MAGUINDANAO , Philippines   – A fire damaged the house of Andal Ampatuan Jr., one of the detained suspects in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, in Shariff Aguak town here before dawn last Saturday, police said.

Superintendent Warlito Daus, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao fire marshal, said arson investigators were still trying to determine what caused the fire that struck the plush residence of Ampatuan, former mayor of Datu Unsay town.

Only a caretaker had been watching over the house since Ampatuan’s family relocated outside of Maguindanao after he and several clan members, including his father, former governor Andal Sr., were arrested for the massacre.

Senior Inspector Marlon Silvestre, Shariff Aguak police chief, said the caretaker was nowhere in sight and that all the air-conditioning units in Ampatuan’s house were missing.