While others were doing Hajj and celebrating Eidul Adha

Some idiots decided that killing their own Muslim brethren was the only way to maintain political power.

Innalillah hi wa innailaihirojiun.

MANILA, Nov 27 (Reuters)- A politician whose wife, sisters and relatives were among 57 people killed in the southern Philippines because he wanted to contest elections next year, registered his candidacy on Friday.

Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu said the massacre had not altered his plans to run for the post of governor of Maguindanao province in the May 2010 polls.

"Only death can stop me from running for governor," he told reporters after submitting nomination papers at a local election commission office.

Mangudadatu's 50-vehicle convoy to the office was escorted by soldiers and combat-trained police units, passing along the same highway where his wife's caravan, which included dozens of journalists, was stopped by about 100 armed men on Monday.

They were on the way to the election office to file Mangudadatu's candidacy papers. Fifty seven were shot and hacked to death and most of them buried in three shallow graves on a hillside off the highway.

The victims included 27 journalists and seven people who were not part of the convoy. Those seven were killed because they witnessed the crime.

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Please pray for these souls who died for a cause they believed in. My friend Kim's friend, an 18 year old, was a gaffer for the camera crew were among those slain. The mass graves were prepared even before the massacre was done. The women were raped before being killed. Some were buried alive. Some were only hitchhiking the convoy to get to the other side of town.