Maguindanao ex-guv's widow to run for town mayor

COTABATO CITY – The widow of former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan, Sr. on Monday filed her Certificate of Candidacy for the mayorship of a town named after her son, who is a primary suspect in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre.

Laila Uy Ampatuan, a first time candidate, filed her candidacy for mayor of Datu Unsay town, a municipality named after Andal Ampatuan Jr., also known as “Datu Unsay,” who is currently detained at a maximum security prison facility in Taguig City.

Comelec officials in Datu Unsay told reporters here Tuesday that Laila is running with vice mayoral candidate Janine Mamalapat.

The mayor of Datu Unsay, Mayor Bai Reshal Santiago Ampatuan, who is wife of Datu Unsay, died of cardiac arrest in April this year.

The elder Ampatuan’s candidacy is being contested by her grandson, Oping Ampatuan, who is the brother of Marop, currently the re-electionist mayor of the adjacent town of Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao.

Andal Ampatuan Sr., the clan’s patriarch, died of liver cancer while detained in Taguig three years ago.

Zahara Upam Ampatuan, a daughter-in-law of the late Ampatuan patriarch, is seeking the mayorship of Shariff Aguak.

Zahara is the wife of Anwar Ampatuan, former Shariff Aguak mayor, who was also implicated in the Maguindanao massacre along with brothers Datu Unsay and former Governor Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. (PNA)