Tomorrow,Sunday,will be the sixth month of the Maguindanao massacre that claimed the lives of at least 57 people, 30 of them journalists.
Justice still eludes the victims and their families. The perpetrators of the heinous crime, members of the powerful Ampatuan family, are in jail but attempts to evade accountability persist.
To maintain the momentum of the quest for justice for the victims, a media outfit hosts the commemoration every 23rd of the month. This Sunday, Malaya Business Insight, leads in the prayers and renewal of our demand for accountability. It will be held in front of the office of Malaya on Railroad corner 20th streets in Port Area, Manila at 6 p.m.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines is asking participants to wear black as a symbol of justice still unobtained.
Since we have just concluded a national election and has elected Gloria Arroyo’s successor, we are going to address our appeal to President-apparent Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, Jr. to render justice to victims and their relatives.
NUJP’s statement:
“On May 23, 2010, it will be six months since the Ampatuan massacre, the worst single attack on the press ever and the worst election-related violence in our country’s recent history.
“It will be the second to the last time we commemorate this infamy under the most murderous administration for the Philippine press, that of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, under whose watch 100 of the 137 media personnel murdered since 1986 lost their lives.
“Let us gather at 6 p.m. this Sunday at the office of Malaya, at the Port Area in Manila, to continue our mourning for all the lives lost to the culture of impunity this administration, more than any other, has helped nurture.
“As we do so, let us renew our resolve to hold this administration accountable for the lives lost because of its apathy, even outright hostility towards media, and its politics of expediency emboldened the enemies of press freedom, many of them its allies, to continue enforcing the ultimate censorship – death.
“At the same time, let us also demand accountability of the incoming administration, which is as much duty-bound as the one it is replacing, to ensure justice for everyone and that our rights and liberties are not trampled with impunity.
“For the administration and delivery of justice is not the responsibility of any one government alone but that of the State, in the very same manner that the State continues to be held accountable for giving justice and compensation to the victims of human rights violations committed by the Marcos dictatorship.”
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Many are wondering, what happened in Maguindanao in the last election, where many of the members of the Ampatuan family were candidates?
Buluan vice-mayor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu, whose wife and other relatives were among the 57 killed in the Nov. 23 carnage, won as Maguindanao governor. It can be said that it’s a position obtained at the cost of lives of his loved ones.
Mindanews’ Carol Arguillas reported that one of Mangudadatu’s priorities is to conduct a special census for Maguindanao.
“I want a physical count ng mga tao (of people). One by one,” said Mangudadatu adding that he will be coordinating with the National Census and Statistics Office on this.
This is important because Maguindanao is notorious as a “vote bank”.
It’s an open secret that when the Ampatuans reigned supreme in Maguindanao, any candidate for national position who needs a certain number of votes to win and who has the resources to pay, can get it in Maguindanao. You just go to the right person with theright amount and you get your desired number of votes. Just like in a bank transaction.
The anomalies of total number of votes in the Certificates of Canvass far exceeding the number of population attest to this fraud.
In recent years, a dramatic increase of Maguindanao’s population has been noticed which many relate to elections as well as the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), support from the international funding agencies and other projects.
“Niloloko nila yung gobyerno eh” (they’re fooling government), Mangudadatu said.
Nasaan ang mga AKALA mo ke gagaling na Abugago sa ating bansa like Mercelo, Santos, De Vera, Wetnes Apostol, Gunggongzales, plus yong prosickyutor during impeachment of President Erap?
Bakit di nila upuan ito upang ipagtanggol ang 57 kaluluwa na tinodas ng mga astig…pero ng kuyugin at pagtulungan ang Pangulong Erap upang ilampaso at ipahiya sa buong mundo e ang gagaling nila.
Sige ilabas n’yo ang inyong tapang…dito n’yo ipakita ang inyong galing na ipagtanggol ang mga biktima ng karumaldumal na krimen.
Ang tagal na ng kasong ito e…wala pang nangyayari sa usapin at mukha atang magkakalimutan na.
Kalahating taon na ang masaker wala pa ring nakikitang hustisya sa horizon. Bigyan sana ng bagong pamunuan ng focus ang kasong ito, pagbayarin ang mga hinayupaks na Ampatuans pati na yung bff sa EK.
this Ampatuan massacre must have a closure and all victims should have justice, this is not the concern of the victims alone but the well being of the whole nation is at stake, if the Ampatuan clans and their mastermind could still get away with this heinous crime, then every Filipino might as well arm themselves to the teeth and protect themselves from political monsters like the ampatuan and their cohorts in gov’t……
Walang mangyayari sa kaso na yan, bakit?
Earlier, a human rights group, the Human Rights Watch scored both Aquino and Villar for being noncommittal in their position regarding the dismantling of private armies in the country.
HRW executive director Kenneth Roth said he did not get a “firm commitment” to end the country’s “reliance” on paramilitary forces when he spoke to both presidential aspirants recently.
“They kind of accepted this (role of paramilitary forces) as a necessary evil. I think that is a mistake. When the evil involves predictable widespread political killing, that is not acceptable,” he said in a press briefing in Makati City on Saturday, as reported in a news website.
Roth described Aquino’s understanding of private armies
as “extraordinarily narrow,” which made the LP standard-bearer “unwilling to address the root causes” of the country’s problem on paramilitary forces, the report said……….
Estrada is about the only presidential candidate who has made his stand clear on the dismantling of private armies, saying many times over that he will not allow any private army to exist under his presidency, as they are not allowed by law to operate.
“We have one Armed Forces of the Philippines. One Flag. One Country,” Estrada is often quoted as saying.
http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100426hed2.html
i wonder why other journalist were not writing about this massacre, where so many of their fellow journalist perished ?
Gov elect mangudadatu could form and support a group dedicated solely to seeking justice for all the massacre victims which include his wife and supporters
the ampatuans must be hanged!
if this massacre happened in China, the Ampatuans would have been executed by firing squad 3 months after the massacre, and their relatives told to pay for the bullets used in the execution…..
Nung bumoto ako nitong nakaraang eleksyon, pinaalala ko sa sarili ko na ang boto ko e hindi lang sa kandidatong napupusuan kong makakagawa para sa bayan, kungdi para na din sa mga namatay sa Maguindanao.
Sana naman, yung mga binoto natin e makatulong sa pagbigay hustisya sa mga napaslang dun.
it is imperative na maputol na ang kahayupan ng mga Ampatuan…..
Hinahanap kita sa footage Ellen. Di kita nakita. Diba sa Malaya yung ginawang martsa kahapon?
i am quite sure somebody will pay for their crime but not necessarily the ampatuans.