KORONADAL CITY (PNA) – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) branded as “unbelievable” on Friday the statements made by Maguindanao massacre principal suspect Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. of Datu Unsay town tagging members of the rebel group as behind the massacre of at least 57 people in Ampatuan town last Monday.

Ghazali Jaafar, MILF vice chair for political affairs, said it was not up to them to answer whether their members, specifically the group of MILF commander Ameril Umbra Kato, were indeed involved in the killings as claimed by the mayor, who has maintained his innocence over the incident.

“I will not glorify that statement by answering it. Nobody in the world would believe him anyway,” Jaafar said in a radio interview.

The mayor, a son of incumbent Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., made the accusations against the MILF commander shortly after he was committed to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) jail in Manila on Thursday night.

The young Ampatuan earlier turned himself in voluntarily to Presidential Adviser for Mindanao Jesus Dureza at the Maguindanao Provincial Capitol in Shariff Aguak town and was immediately flown to General Santos City for inquest proceedings.

Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera, who personally facilitated the proceedings, gave Ampatuan Jr., who was accompanied by his lawyer Siegfred Fortun, at least 36 hours to answer the multiple murder charges filed against him.

Jaafar urged the national government to properly act on the cases filed against the suspects to ensure justice for the massacre victims and their families.

“We join the entire country and the world in seeking and in appealing to our national leadership to act on this case swiftly and decisively so justice will prevail,” he said.

Jaafar also called on the media, civil society and lawyers’ groups to jointly monitor the developments of the case to make sure earlier fears of a possible “white wash” would not happen.

“Take not that most of the victims there were women and children. That is not acceptable. I can’t remember any incident of this magnitude that ever happened here and we have no words to describe what happened,” he said.

A group of armed men, who were allegedly hired by the Ampatuans, reportedly held and later killed members of the Mangudadatu family, their lawyers and a group of journalists who were on their way to file the certificate of candidacy for governor of Buluan Vice Mayor Ismael Mangudadatu at the Commission on Elections provincial office in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao last Monday morning.