(RTTNews) - Authorities in the Philippines on Friday charged Andal Ampatuan Jr., the prime suspect in the brutal election-related murders of 57 people on the southern island of Mindanao earlier in the week, with several counts of multiple murder for allegedly organizing the killings.

Department of Justice said it filed the charges against Ampatuan Jr. at a court in Cotabato City on Friday. It added that a prosecution panel under Senior State Prosecutor Leo Dacera has been set up for the case against Ampatuan Jr.

Addressing a press conference in Manila, the federal justice minister Agnes Devanadera told reporters that a witness, who confessed to taking part in the massacre, has testified that Ampatuan Jr. ordered and led the killings.

Monday's massacre occurred after about 100 suspected Ampatuan gunmen allegedly abducted a convoy of aides and relatives of a rival politician, Esmael Mangudadatu, along with a group of accompanying journalists, when they were traveling to file election papers nominating Mangudadatu as a candidate for provincial governor in next year's poll.

The gunmen then took all the passengers in the convoy to a remote hill side and shot them at close range. After the killing, the gunmen dumped the bodies in shallow graves. Among the victims were Mangudadatu's wife, his two sisters and several key supporters, as well as at least 18 journalists.
Also on Friday, Mangudadatu officially registered his candidacy for next year's elections. He filed his candidacy papers after traveling under military escort along the same route where several of his family members and supporters were massacred. While submitting the papers, Mangudadatu told his supporters that only death can stop him from running in the elections.

A day earlier, Andal Ampatuan Jr., who is the mayor of Datu Unsay town, surrendered himself to presidential peace adviser Jesus Dureza in the provincial capital. He was then flown to the capital Manila for questioning. It is understood that Ampatuan Jr. has denied any involvement in the massacre, and is blaming Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for Monday's killings.

However, the MILF, the largest Muslim rebel group in Philippines, has rejected the allegation and denied any involvement in Monday's massacre. The politician's allegation came just over a couple of months after a tentative ceasefire halted the fighting between the MILF rebels and the country's security forces.

Ampatuan is a member of a powerful local political family, and the son of the provincial governor Andal Ampatuan Sr, who himself is a close political ally of the Philippine president, Gloria Arroyo. The senior Ampatuan had been grooming his son to take over as governor in elections due next year.

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