21 Reported Dead and 22 Missing in Mass Kidnapping Linked to Philippine Election
MANILA — In one of the worst episodes of election-related violence in the Philippines in recent memory, a group of more than 40 people — including lawyers, journalists and relatives of a local politician — were kidnapped by armed men on Monday, and military officials said at least 21 of them had been killed.
Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, a military spokesman in Manila, the capital, said 21 bodies had been recovered in Maguindanao, a province on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines that has often been wracked by election violence. Thirteen of the dead were women, according to the military. Twenty-two people were unaccounted for, according to military officials.
Maj. Gen. Alfredo Cayton, a security official in the province, said in a radio interview that the victims had been shot. But relatives of victims said at least 30 abductees had been killed, and many of them had been beheaded, by a group of about 100 men.
Jesus Dureza, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s adviser on Mindanao, recommended that a state of emergency be declared in Maguindanao Province. “Everyone should be disarmed. Anything less will not work,” he said.
The victims were reportedly stopped on their way to an election office to file candidacy papers for Esmael Mangudadatu, the deputy mayor of the town of Buluan, who plans to run for governor of Maguindanao. Mr. Mangudadatu said on ABS-CBN television that his wife, his sister and several other female relatives had been in the group and that he had received confirmation that they had been killed.
He said they had been filing his candidacy documents in the hope that women would not be attacked. Lawyers and reporters accompanied the group, although the military did not identify the bodies that had been recovered.
“We believe more bodies are buried,” Colonel Brawner said, according to Reuters.
Mr. Mangudadatu’s uncle, Pax Mangudadatu, the governor of Sultan Kudarat Province, said the deputy mayor’s supporters had been attacked by backers of Andal Ampatuan, the current governor of Maguindanao. The families are bitter political enemies. The governor did not immediately comment.
The filing of candidacy documents for the local and national elections, scheduled for next May, began Friday.
Attacks on candidates and supporters during campaign periods are common throughout the Philippines. In the 2007 local elections, nearly 100 people were killed in such attacks.
Election violence is more extreme in Maguindanao, where an Islamic insurgency and longstanding clan wars complicate the security situation. Access to firearms by criminal groups and political warlords has worsened the situation in this and other areas.
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