Philippines mayor charged with 25 murders

Dec. 1: Philippine prosecutors on Tuesday filed 25 counts of murder against a politician accused of leading an election-linked massacre of 57 people, officials said.

The charges against Andal Ampatuan Jnr were filed in a court in the southern city of Cotabato, which has jurisdiction over the remote farming area where the slaughter occurred last week, said prosecutor Edilberto Jamora.

However authorities said they were looking to have the case heard outside of the southern Philippines because witnesses were extremely worried about intimidation or other repercussions from the extremely powerful Ampatuan clan.

"They are reluctant to go to court and they fear for their safety and their families' safety," Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera said in Manila.

The Ampatuans, through the backing of their own private army and the support of President Gloria Arroyo's ruling coalition, have ruled the southern province of Maguindanao since 2001.

Ampatuan Junior's father, who goes by the same name, has been governor of Maguindanao since 2001, although he has held other senior provincial positions since the fall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

While Ampatuan Junionr, a local town mayor, is being held in a Manila detention centre, his father and seven other relatives are also being investigated over their potential roles in the killings.