Never Forget
From Philippine Daily Inquirer
Arroyo ‘aided’ Ampatuans—HRW
MANILA, Philippines—Militia forces were greatly strengthened under the watch of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo through the sale of military weapons to local officials and other forms of support, with the Maguindanao massacre as prime example of the government’s inability to investigate the resulting atrocities.
This was the verdict of the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a 96-page report titled “They Own the People: The Ampatuans, State-backed Militias, and Killings in Southern Philippines,” which was launched Tuesday in Quezon City.
It examined 50 more incidents of killings, sexual assaults, torture and abductions in Mindanao implicating the Ampatuans, whose “rise and expansion,” it said, were “aided” by then President Arroyo.
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