Ampatuan Jr. endorses Noynoy Aquino

Ampatuan Jr. endorses Noynoy Aquino

By Thea Alberto, Yahoo! Southeast Asia

The Liberal Party (LP) has called a photo of Andal Ampatuan Jr. flashing the 'Laban' to imply his support for Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino a "sick joke."

“That is a sick joke. You can only laugh at it. It is obviously meant to hit Noynoy Aquino who is leading in the surveys,” LP campaign manager Butch Abad told Yahoo! Southeast Asia in a phone interview.

Ampatuan Jr. has been tagged as the face of violence, being a key suspect in the grisly November 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre which left at least 57 people, including members of the media, dead.

Abad said he believes Ampatuan’s act to make a ‘Laban’ sign was perhaps a way to "repay" his ally, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who supposedly ordered the release of the other Ampatuans implicated in the massacre.

“It’s an instant repayment of Ampatuan’s release by allowing themselves to be paraded like that, that they are hoping they could undermine Noynoy’s lead,” he added.

Abad noted that the younger Ampatuan, who is locked in a high security facility, would not have had the privilege to give a press conference unless someone from a higher office allowed it.

Abad said this also further notes of Arroyo’s alleged alliance with Nacionalista Party bet, Senator Manuel Villar.

“The principal beneficiary of that is the leading opponent of Sen. Aquino. You see the ‘Villaroyo’,” Abad added.

The NP denied any hand in the controversial Ampatuan photo, but emphasized that it was Aquino’s mom, former president Corazon “Cory” Aquino who helped the Ampatuans gain power.

“Before the LP again starts to distort facts in order to discredit Senator Villar, let it be known how the Ampatuans came to be the most powerful clan in Maguindanao. And it all started with a political appointment from Noynoy Aquino’s mother, then president Cory Aquino,” NP said.

“On any account, one thing is clear: that the political career of the elder Ampatuan started during the Aquino administration,” the NP added, an accusation Abad refuted.