THE PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM (PCIJ) is proud to announce the broadcast of ANGKAN, INC., a special five-part documentary on the clans of Maguindanao as part of TV5′s Balwarte series on Sunday, April 28, at 10 p.m.
The documentary, produced by the PCIJ with the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Commission on Human Rights, takes a deeper look at the political, social, and economic influence of the various clans that have lorded over Maguindanao in the last few centuries. This influence is especially evident in the May 2013 elections, where at least 80 members of the Ampatuan clan are running for public office in various capacities, from town councilor to mayor. Senior members of the Ampatuan clan have been implicated in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, where 58 people including 32 journalists were murdered in the worst case of election violence in the country.
But as the documentary shows, the case of the Ampatuans is not entirely unusual, as Maguindanao’s electoral races have long been the playground of the province’s clans. The Sangki clan, for example, is fielding 26 candidates, while the Midtimbangs are fielding 25. The Mangudadatu clan, the main rival of the Ampatuans, is fielding 18, even as their bailiwick is really in the neighboring province of Sultan Kudarat.
Interestingly, the proliferation of the clans and their continued and consistent dominance in Maguindanao does not seem to have had any positive effect on the socioeconomic development of Maguindanaoans. The province continues to wallow at the bottom with economic indicators showing very little progress over the decades.
The documentary also traces the evolution of the royal clans of the Sultanate of Maguindanao into today’s political clans, and how patronage politics on both the local and national level reinforce and perpetuate this clan system.
The print version of the documentary may also be read here:
- Ampatuans, web of kin warp Maguindanao polls
- Mauindanao’s misery: Absentee officials, absence of rage, poverty
- National politicos prop dynasties to win elections
The PCIJ series on Maguindanao is the first of a series of studies on the political clans that rule over significant portions of the country. In the next three years, the PCIJ will also be doing print stories and documentaries on other political clans in the Visayas and Luzon with assistance from the UNDP and CHR.
Watch the Maguindanao documentary tonight, April 28, on TV5′s Balwarte election series.