Maguindanao massacre survivors form community through therapy session

by Benjamin S. Luis
VERA Files

They thought by now, nearly two months after their loved ones perished in the country’s worst pre-election violence in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao, they were already past grief.

And so, when the widows and mother of nine slain journalists and the daughter of a missing newsman met recently with a prominent psychiatrist at a major government-run hospital in Quezon City for group therapy, they were all smiles—until tears began to flow.

For Glenna Legarta, the therapy was her very first chance to openly confront the death of her husband, Bienvendio “Jun” Legarta of Pronterra Balita. The last time she saw Jun, he was no more than a bloated and decomposing cadaver at a dirty funeral parlor in Koronadal City.

The usually jolly Glenna suddenly lost her composure when the psychiatrist asked her to share her feelings about his death. She broke into tears before the group, admitting what she had been keeping to herself all along.

“Para sa akin, hindi ko pa rin matanggap ang pagkamatay ni Jun, kasi hindi siya nagpaalam na pupunta siya sa Buluan… Sabi niya sa akin, ‘Pagkatapos nito, hahanap ako ng ibang trabaho.’ Iyon pala, di na siya babalik…Hindi na sila naawa sa asawa ko (I still can’t accept Jun’s death because he didn’t tell me he was going to Buluan. He had told me he was going to look for another job after this but he never returned. They didn’t take pity on my husband,” she said.

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