Rewards set for fugitive Maguindanao massacre suspects –task force

Despite the Covid-19 threat, the Philippine National Police (PNP) ordered an intensified manhunt for the 76 Maguindanao massacre suspects who still remained at large, the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) said in a Friday statement.

Based on PNP chief Police General Archie Gamboa's directive for the intensified manhunt, the Operations Management Division (OMD) of the Police Security and Protection Group (PSPG) issued a memo directing the publication of "photos of the above-mentioned accused via TV, Radio, Internet and Media (TRIM) and cause the implementation of their Warrant of Arrest (WOA)”.

Among the 76 were Datu Bahnarin A. Ampatuan and Datu Saudi Ampatuan Jr., who each had a bounty of P300,000 for their capture.

There was a bounty of P250,000 each for the arrest of the 74 other suspects.

A trial court declared several members of the influential Ampatuan clan guilty of multiple murder for the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao in 2009 - an infamous case of election-related violence and an exceptionally brutal attack on the press.

Among the Ampatuan clan members convicted were former Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy Ampatuan, Anwar Ampatuan Sr., Anwar "Ipi" Ampatuan Jr., and Anwar Sajid "Ulo" Ampatuan. — DVM, GMA News