Phil Daily Inquirer: Feared and loathed by his enemies, Andal Ampatuan Jr. is known as the "hatchet man" of a powerful Muslim clan in Mindanao whose family history is written in blood.
A chubby, stone-faced man in his 40s with a penchant for expensive guns, he is the son and namesake of the clan patriarch who has ruled as governor of Maguindanao province for most of this decade.
Ampatuan Jr. denies any role in this week's massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao who were allegedly targeted to end a political challenge from a rival clan.
But Ampatuan Jr. and his father have long had reputations for using fear and violence to stifle opponents and expand their power, according to the country's top human rights officials and others who have knowledge about the family.
"The Maguindanao political warlords are really the ones giving crucial or swing votes to administration candidates," Leila de Lima, chair of the Commission on Human Rights, told Agence France-Presse.
She said the Ampatuan family "act like Gods" in Maguindanao.
De Lima is a former election lawyer who once represented an official who lost to an Ampatuan family member in the 2007 congressional vote allegedly through fraud.
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