On the Maguindanao Massacre

The Magindanao Massacre that occurred on November 23, 2009 killed Esmael Mangundadatu's wife, his sisters, his lawyers, and at least 34 journalists who were to file Mangundadatu's certificate of candidacy. The mass murder shocked not only the Filipinos, but the whole world. It has been in the news since then. The main suspects for this carnage are the Ampatuans, believed by many as the masterminds of the hideous crime.

It fits perfectly, now doesn't it? Esmael Mangundadatu is the main challenger of Andal Ampatuan Jr. for the gubernatorial  position in Magindanao and the Mangundadatus and Ampatuans have been political clan rivals for quite a time. The motive is clear --in order to threaten Esmael Mangundadatu and secure the gubernatorial position, the Ampatuans had Esmael's relatives and lawyers killed. It's that simple. Perfect! However, I would say that all of these assumptions are based on the premise that the Ampatuans are stupid narrow-minded, dull-planning imbeciles. Why would they commit a crime that would obviously (and I repeat and emphasize, obviously) identify them as suspects. The crime itself was done in a town called Ampatuan. Now, doesn't that ring a bell? Either they (the Ampatuans) were really dumb as to forget that they are the biggest rival of the Mangundadatus and the ones most prone to be suspected as masterminds, or they are just too confident that they could simply hide the death of 57 people and hoped that the media probably wouldn't smell it (ah, those unsuspecting and ignorant media people) or. . .as GMA's allies, they were really confident that she would bail them out --which by the way would make them all the more dumb as GMA's term as the highest commander in the country would end in seven months. Either of these three, makes them really, really fit to be called stupid narrow-minded dull-planning imbeciles! That is, if it was indeed them who planned the massacre.

This scene in our history actually reminds me of a crime also committed in Philippine soil more than two decades ago --the day when Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino was shot dead at the Manila International Airport. Everyone pointed out President Ferdinand Marcos to be the mastermind of the killing. Ninoy was Marcos's biggest critic, and Marcos aimed to silence his greatest enemy. Once again, it fits perfectly --there's the mastermind, and there's the motive. But once again, this assumption (or should I say, condemnation) is based on the premise that Marcos is a stupid narrow-minded dull-planning imbecile, which I really doubt because for me, no stupid narrow-minded dull-planning imbecile could remain in power for more than two decades.

The above premises lead me to ask:  

"What if Esmael Mangundadatu ordered the mass murder himself in order to press down his biggest political rival?"

Actually, I first heard this assumption from a batch mate of mine, and initially, it seemed really funny (and at the same time improbable) to me. "Why would you kill your own wife and sisters?" But come to think of it, I realized that history testifies that politicians would use extreme means (as in extreme means) to secure their political positions and achieve political ends. Who could say that the Ampatuans are hungrier for power than the Mangundadatus? I am not pro-Ampatuan nor pro-Marcos (I wasn't even born when he died), but what I am saying is that the Ampatuans could have planned the crime, and they could have not. Likewise, Esmael Mangundadatu could have planned the murder, and he could have not. In this case, I could say that only God (and the murderers themselves) know(s).