Andal Ampatuan, Sr.

Who is Andal Ampatuan, Sr.?

Andal Ampatuan, Sr. is the patriarch of the Ampatuan political family in Maguindanao province, on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. He was the governor of the province.

Ampatuan Sr. was already a vice mayor when President Ferdinand E. Marcos appointed him as mayor and officer-in-charge of Maganoy. When Corazon Aquino came into power via the 1986 EDSA People Power revolution, she replaced every locally-elected official with officers-in-charge. Ampatuan Sr. was replaced by another Ampatuan, Datu Modi who served for two years in that capacity.

During the 1988 local elections, Andal Ampatuan Sr. then served for ten years. In the 1998 elections, Andal Sr. was elected as governor.

In 2001, the Ampatuan clan solidified its hold on power through a close friendship with Gloria Macapagal Arroyo when she assumed the presidency after EDSA People Power II. During the 2004 presidential elections, Arroyo dominated the polls in Shariff Aquak and most of Maguindanao. Amid speculation that cheating had occurred in Maguindanao and other Mindanao provinces, results were contested by Arroyo's main rival, popular actor Fernando Poe Jr..