Sajid Ampatuan kin worried recent Maguindanao atrocities may be blamed on him

By FERDINANDH CABRERA

Published March 24, 2015 3:32pm

(Updated 7:30 a.m., March 25) COTABATO CITY - A relative of Maguindanao massacre suspect out on bail and former Maguindanao Vice-Governor Datu Sajid Islam Ampatuan is worried that recent atrocities in the province will be blamed on him after his presence was reported in his hometowns in Cotabato City and Maguindanao.

Two grenade explosions were reported last week in Shariff Aguak, a known bailiwick of the Ampatuans in the province.

Bai Mayan Ala Sinsuat, mother-in-law of Sajid Ampatuan, however, on Tuesday said her son-in-law could not have been behind the blasts.

“That is not true, he can't do that for now. He is busy attending to his kids in his residence in Metro Manila (to make up) for the lost time he had with his five boys,” Sinsuat told this reporter over the phone.

Ampatuan, who has been implicated in the grisly 2009 Maguindanao massacre, is married to Sinsuat's daughter Bai Zandria, the mayor of the town of Shariff Saydona Mustapha in Maguindanao.

Sinsuat also vehemently denied her son-in-law has gone home since his temporary liberty.

Sinsuat added Ampatuan has no plans to go back to Cotabato or Maguindanao for security concerns. She said there is no truth to reports that he came home after he posted bail.

Sinsuat added Sajid Ampatuan has grown up spiritually and as a person after years spent in jail.

“He is enjoying his lost time as a father to his eight-month-old baby who is a product while he was in jail which will make him (have) no time to think of atrocities in his province,” she stressed.

Last week, Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu told reporters Ampatuan has come back to his homes in Cotabato City and Maguindanao.

He admitted the influence of the family is still a big issue in the province.

Mangudadatu is one of the main complainants against members of the Ampatuan family for the November 23, 2009 massacre in Ampatuan, Maguindanao. The said incident claimed the lives of 58 people including Mangudadatu's wife and sister, and lawyers, supporters, innocent motorists and 32 media workers who joined the convoy on the way to Shariff Aguak to file his certificate of candidacy as gubernatorial candidate.

Sajid Ampatuan was allowed by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court last March 9 to post bail of P11.6 million.

The court granted him temporary liberty after determining that the evidence was not strong enough for his continued detention.

Grenade throwing

Two incidents of grenade throwing were reported in Shariff Aguak town last week.

The first incident happened on March 18 in front of the house of Department of Education-Maguindanao Schools Division Superintendent Bai Meriam-Kawit who is a close relative of the Ampatuans.

This was followed on March 21 by another grenade explosion at the house of ABC president Abe Ampatuan.

Kawit and Abe Ampatuan are neighbors in Poblacion Shariff Aguak.

In both incidents, no one was hurt.

Local police are eyeing a personal grudge or a reason related to politics as possible motives of riding-in-tandem suspects who threw the grenades.

Abe Ampatuan is the brother of Maguindanao massacre star witness, former Datu Salibo Mayor Akmad Ampatuan, who turned against his former boss and uncle, Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr., one of the main suspects in the massacre.

Akmad was nabbed in Makati City last week on the strength of previous standing warrants of arrest for murder and multiple murder complaints. —KG, GMA News

Tags: maguindanaomassacre, sajidampatuan, maguindanao