Straight from the hearth By Gloria Esguerra Melencio
Ampatuans’ wealth amid extreme poverty of people in Maguindanao
Seeing the Ampatuans’ 28 mansions and big houses all over the country, many in Maguindanao, one cannot help but wonder how this powerful clan has managed to live comfortably amid extreme poverty of many citizens in Maguindanao.
These mansions where live Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr.’s four wives, 30 children, scores of grandchildren, brothers and army of relatives and supporters were built on one to two hectares of land each in Shariff Aguak, Cagayan de Oro City, Davao City, Tacurong, Koronadal, Quezon City, Makati, Cavite and Dasmarinas Village.
The mansions on large tracts of land are a stark contrast to small pieces of land dotted by dilapidated huts where malnourished and barefooted Muslim children wish they could eat three square meals across the region.
The National Economic Development Authority discloses that 63 percent of the Maguindanao population earns a meager Php 50 (lees than US$1) per day. More than half or 55 percent of the residents of Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao are hungry while its government officials wallow in a highly questionable wealth. Maguindanao’s Internal Revenue Allotment , by the way, is Php 550 million annually on the average.
The wealth of the land, rather of the powers-that-be, do not even trickle to the ordinary Muslim citizens who are also supposed to benefit from the government money intended to uplift the economic living of the poor through infrastructures, agriculture, health, education and livelihood programs.
The Ampatuans’ political clout spreads in the towns of Maguindanao where 16 mayors are all surnamed Ampatuan. Even some of its towns had been named after the clan: Ampatuan, Datu Unsay (Ampatuan), Datu Hoffer (Ampatuan) and Datu Saudi (Ampatuan).
The clan’s power is now beyond question as intermarriages between powerful families and among the higher and educated class in ARMM provide a social standing that is one of the requirements to gain access to political patronage: It is they who bring votes to one who wants to be in the position and breeds a symbiotic relationship with whoever is in the national government.
In deep mourning now are not only the families of the 57 victims of the Maguindanao Massacre, also called Ampatuan carnage (some media practitioners insist the November 23 massacre be called Ampatuan Massacre because it was perpetrated in Ampatuan town anyway) , but also the young Ampatuan successors currently studying in prestigious universities in Mindanao. What name could they give their children in the future?
Meanwhile, while Martial Law is in place in Maguindanao, scared citizens carrying their bundles of clothes, pots, a handful of grains, salt and animals flee to other places leaving their villages practically ghost towns.
The Ampatuans charged with the horrible bloodbath beyond words’ description feast on chicken, roast beef, plenty of rice, mineral water and gallons of ice cream inside their prison cells and air-conditioned hospital room (for the old Ampatuan).
