Philippine clan patriarch, 195 others indicted

State prosecutors filed multiple murder charges on Tuesday against the head of a powerful clan and 195 other people, including his three sons and dozens of police officers and soldiers, in the massacre of 57 people in the southern Philippines.

The indictment submitted to the court by the Justice Department prosecutors said Andal Ampatuan Sr. and the others were part of a conspiracy to ambush and kill members of the rival Mangudadatu family, who were gunned down Nov. 23 on a hilltop in Maguindanao province.

Among those killed in the country's worst election violence were 30 journalists and staff members who were going to cover the filing of candidacy papers of Esmael Mangudadatu, who is running for governor, in the May elections.

Mangudadatu, claiming he has received death threats from the Ampatuans, had sent his wife and other female relatives and supporters to the provincial capital in the hope that his rival would not harm the women.

Before Tuesday's indictment, only the patriarch's son, Andal Ampatuan Jr., had been formally charged.

"From the witnesses presented ... it can be deduced that the commission of the crime was planned deliberately by the perpetrators and that, until its consummation, there was an inexorable resolve to kill," the indictment document said. "Consequently, their plan was carried out leading to the mass murder."

Andal Ampatuan Jr. has pleaded not guilty and is seeking bail.

No date has been set for the arraignment of his father, brothers and the other co-accused.

The 69-year-old clan patriarch, an ally of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, has denied any involvement and said the charges have been fabricated. He also denied a witness's statement saying he allegedly told his son, Andal Jr., "You know what to do" with the people in the convoy.

The Ampatuans are facing separate charges of rebellion for allegedly mobilizing armed resistance against the government in the wake of the massacre.

Arroyo had made political alliances with the Ampatuans and their rivals, the Mangudadatus, but was believed particularly indebted to the Ampatuans, who delivered crucial votes for her in the 2004 election. Arroyo's administration party expelled the Ampatuans shortly after the massacre.

Last week, relatives of 14 of the journalists killed asked the nascent Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations to ensure that the suspects do not escape justice.