MANILA, Philippines -- Andal Ampatuan Sr., a former Philippine governor and one of the main suspects accused of ordering the killings of 58 people in the Philippines' worst massacre, died of a heart attack in a government hospital, his lawyer said Saturday.
Ampatuan, 74, was on trial in the 2009 massacre and was taken to the National Kidney and Transplant Institute in early June, when he was diagnosed with liver cancer. He fell into a coma several days ago and died overnight of a heart attack from liver failure, lawyer Salvador Panelo said.
Ampatuan was among 103 people who were charged with multiple murders in the Maguindanao massacre, one of the worst political killings in the country.
He and his relatives were accused of killing 58 people, including the family of their political rival and 32 journalists, on Nov. 23, 2009.
At a roadblock, the gunmen stopped the cars carrying the wife and three sisters of Esmael Mangudadatu, the contender in elections for provincial governor, and local journalists who were accompanying them on their way to file candidacy papers. The group was taken to a hill, where some were ordered to line up and were mowed down at close range, according to authorities. Others were shot inside their vehicles and buried in large holes that had been dug by a backhoe. Bullet-riddled bodies also were found scattered on the ground or in other vehicles.
Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his namesake son and the other accused have denied the slayings.
Private prosecutor Harry Roque, who represents several of the victims' families, lamented that Ampatuan had died before the end of the trial.
Metro on 07/19/2015