A crowd of people on their way to register Esmael Mangudadatu's candidacy for governor of Maguindanao, Philippines, were kidnapped and killed by supporters of his rival, resulting in 58 deaths.

Esmael Gaguil Mangudadatu is a Filipino politician who is the representative of Maguindanao del Sur's lone district, having been elected in 2025. He previously served as the representative of the then-undivided Maguindanao's 2nd district from 2019 to 2022. He also served as the governor of Maguindanao from 2010 to 2019. In Buluan town, he served as the mayor from 1998 to 2007, and vice mayor from 2007 to 2010.

Maguindanao was a province of the Philippines located in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). From 2014 to 2022, its provincial capital was Buluan, but the legislative branch of government, the Maguindanao Provincial Board, convened at the old provincial capitol in Sultan Kudarat. It bordered Lanao del Sur to the north, Cotabato to the east, Sultan Kudarat to the south, and Illana Bay to the west.

The Maguindanao massacre occurred on the morning of November 23, 2009, in the town of Ampatuan in Maguindanao, Philippines. The 58 victims were on their way to file a certificate of candidacy for Esmael Mangudadatu, deputy-mayor of Buluan, when they were kidnapped and later killed. Mangudadatu was challenging Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., son of the incumbent Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and member of one of Mindanao's leading Muslim political clans, in the forthcoming Maguindanao gubernatorial election, part of the national elections in 2010. Those killed included Mangudadatu's wife, his two sisters, journalists, lawyers, aides, and motorists who were witnesses or were mistakenly identified as part of the convoy.