By CARLOS H. CONDE
MANILA — The Philippine government on Saturday dropped charges against two prominent members of a powerful political family accused of the mass killing of 57 people in November, the single worst incident of political violence on record here.
Although the main suspect in the massacre, Andal Ampatuan Jr., remains in jail facing multiple murder charges, the dismissal by the Department of Justice of the cases against two of his brothers — Zaldy and Akmad Ampatuan — surprised Filipinos and alarmed human rights advocates.
With the dismissal of the charges, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo “has moved another step closer to leaving a legacy of impunity for extrajudicial killings,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy director for Asia of Human Rights Watch.
The Ampatuans are the most powerful political family in the predominantly Muslim province of Maguindanao and are close allies of Mrs. Arroyo. According to prosecutors, Andal Ampatuan Jr. personally led the slaughter of the 57 opposition supporters on Nov. 23.
On that day, his men — among them police officers and members of a government militia — stopped the victims at a roadblock and then brought them to a hill where they were shot and hacked to death. Prosecutors say a government backhoe was then used to bury the bodies.
Zaldy Ampatuan, who was a regional governor at the time of the killings, is the highest-ranking official implicated in the case. Both Akmad Ampatuan and Andal Ampatuan Jr. were mayors of towns in Maguindanao Province.
Prosecutors initially said the massacre could not have happened without the complicity of other Ampatuans, among them Zaldy and Akmad.
But on Saturday, Justice Secretary Alberto Agra said prosecutors had failed to establish a conspiracy involving the two Ampatuans. “Existence of conspiracy was not proven, and being relatives and having similar surnames does not mean there was conspiracy,” Mr. Agra said, according to The Philippine Star, a Manila newspaper.
Mr. Agra said that Zaldy Ampatuan had a convincing alibi and that he had presented plane tickets and phone records to show he was not in the province during the massacre. Akmad Ampatuan also had an alibi, the secretary said.
Mr. Agra also ordered the dismissal of similar cases against five other individuals, among them a crucial witness.
“This is evidence that the victims cannot get justice under the administration of President Arroyo,” Harry Roque, a lawyer for some of the victims, told reporters on Saturday.
There were also concerns raised about the successful prosecution of the suspects, numbering nearly 200, after at least one witness to the massacre and two of his relatives were killed, according to Human Rights Watch.
“The government has failed to adequately protect witnesses and their families, which means crucial witnesses are scared to testify,” Ms. Pearson of the Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
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