‘Ampatuans may be allowed to run under UNA’

MANILA, Philippines - Despite denials from the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) camp that there is a possibility members of the Ampatuan clan are joining their ranks in next year’s polls, an UNA leader said they would not be excluded by virtue of their names alone.

Speaking at a weekly forum, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said that members of the Ampatuan clan are free to be part of the alliance as long as they have not been charged with or convicted of any crime.

“If they are not involved in any case then why should we punish them?” Enrile said.

Members of the Ampatuan clan have reportedly affiliated themselves with the administration’s Liberal Party and the UNA of former President Joseph Estrada and Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Members of both LP and UNA camps have disowned the report, although there were indications that the Ampatuans have signed up as candidates of the two parties in Mindanao.

Many of the Ampatuans have been charged in court for the Maguindanao massacre of 58 persons in 2009.

A number of the members of the Ampatuan clan who were not charged in the case will be running for office in next year’s polls.

Because the name of the family has been tainted by the massacre, political parties were quick to disassociate themselves from the Ampatuans.

However, as far as Enrile is concerned, the fact that some of the Ampatuans were not involved in the case should spare them from general condemnation.

“If a person has done wrong then punish him, but if you have not established a case against the person, do not deny him the right he is entitled to,” he said.