Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr, the patriarch of the Ampatuan warlord clan, is a very close ally of Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Ampatuan’s role in the 2004 Hello Garci operation was substantial. Administration party candidates got ALL the votes of the Maguindanaoans last presidential elections, courtesy of course, by the Ampatuans whom election observers say, intimidated [...]