Maguindanao Massacre

Maguindanao Massacre
Map of the Philippines with Maguindanao highlighted
Location	Ampatuan, Maguindanao, Mindanao, Philippines
Date	November 23, 2009 approx. 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. (UTC +8)
Target	Esmael Mangudadatu's family members, supporters, journalists
Attack type	Massacre
Weapons	Small arms
Deaths	58 Esmael Mangudadatu's family members and supporters, and accompanying journalists
Non-fatal injuries	At least 4
Suspected perpetrators	Andal Ampatuan Jr. and his clan
No. of participants	approx. 100

The Maguindanao massacre, also known as the Ampatuan massacre after the town where the mass graves were found, occurred on the morning of November 23, 2009, in the town of Ampatuan in Maguindanao province, on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. While the 58 victims were on their way to file a certificate of candidacy for Esmael Mangudadatu, vice mayor of Buluan town, they were kidnapped and killed. Mangudadatu was challenging Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., son of the incumbent Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and member of one of Mindanao's leading Muslim political clans, in the forthcoming Maguindanao gubernatorial election, part of the national elections in 2010. The people killed included Mangudadatu's wife, his two sisters, journalists, lawyers, aides, and motorists who were witnesses or were mistakenly identified as part of the convoy.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called the Maguindanao massacre the single deadliest event for journalists in history. At least 34 journalists are known to have died in the massacre. Even before the Maguindanao massacre, the CPJ had labeled the Philippines the second most dangerous country for journalists, second only to Iraq.

The Ampatuans had been in control of Maguindanao since 2001. Andal Ampatuan Sr. came first into prominence when President Corazon Aquino appointed him as Chief-of-Offices of Maganoy (now Shariff Aguak) in 1986 right after the People Power Revolution. Aquino, after coming into power in 1986 via revolutionary means, replaced every locally elected official with officers-in-charge, although the town of Maganoy was approached differently; the aging mayor, Pinagayaw Ampatuan, was replaced by his vice mayor, Andal Sr. He won the 1988 local elections, then served for ten years. In the 1998 elections, Andal Sr. was elected as governor.