Ampatuan wife's followers bar new mayor from office

MANILA, Philippines — Followers of the wife of detained massacre suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr. padlocked her office in the municipal hall of Datu Unsay town to prevent an acting mayor from taking over her post which she abandoned almost a year ago.

The rank-and-file employees of the Datu Unsay local government unit confirmed that their ousted mayor, Reshal Ampatuan, has taken absence without official leave for many months now, kept the key to her office.

The move barred incoming acting mayor, councilor Monawara Ampatuan, to occupy the office last Wednesday.

"She does not want her post taken over by an incumbent councilor despite her being virtually missing from Datu Unsay municipality for so many months now," A barangay official, who asked not to be identified, said in Filipino, in heavy Maguindanaon accent.

Reshal is first of the two wives of Andal Jr., one of the alleged masterminds in the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao Massacre, which left 58 people dead, more than half of them journalists and employees of different media outfits in Central Mindanao.

The carnage, touted as the country's worst election-related violence, led to the incarceration of Andal Jr., his father, Andal Sr., who was former governor of Maguindanao, and other clan members, now being prosecuted for the crime.

Provincial employees of the Department of Interior and Local Government, led by their chief, Amy Dalandag, installed the now acting mayor, Monawara, to office last Thursday via the "operation of law" doctrine in keeping with the provisions of the Local Government Code.

Monawara took over Reshal's post with a written imprimatur from the office of Hadji Anwar Malang, the regional local government secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

A member of the provincial board, lawyer Bobby Katambak, had told Datu Unsay LGU employees that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, chaired by Vice Governor Lester Sinsuat, also recognizes Monawara as the new municipal chief executive to end the hiatus in the town leadership as a result of Reshal's absence from office.

"This move is mandated by law and premised on the provisions of the Local Government Code. Governor Esmael Mangudadatu has nothing to do with this change in the municipal leadership. It's an action prompted by law, particularly the Local Government Code," Katambak said.

Mangudadatu, who, on ministerial capacity, witnessed the installation to office of Monawara, said he is thankful to the DILG-ARMM and its provincial office for initiating measures meant to address the vacuum of the Datu Unsay town leadership.

"My presence in this event is just ministerial, more of a paternal role, me being the father of all residents of Maguindanao," Mangudadatu told reporters.

Monawara is the top councilor of Datu Unsay, having garnered most number of votes, from among other incumbent members of the municipal council, during the May 13, 2013 elections.

The town's number two councilor shall also assume soon the post of the municipal vice mayor, who has also been out of office for about a year now without any official permission.

The provincial police director, Senior Superintendent Rudelio Jocson, has promised to provide Monawara with security escorts due to mounting threats from the camps of the ousted mayor and her jailed husband.

Relatives of Andal Jr. said his armed followers have just been roaming freely in areas where forces of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters operate.