GuardiansPress

Philippines: The Gruesome Massacre of 57 People

Nov 25, 2009 Documentary, News, Politics

I was really saddened to the fact, while it is true that the Philippines having been home to some of our modern-day great heroes, but it cannot be denied also that it has once again proved to the entire world being one of the most dangerous country for journalists, following the massacre of people in broad daylight at Maguindanao area.

Police said the convoy of more than 40 people, including 12 journalists, were accompanying Ginalyn Mangudadatu, the wife of Buluan vice mayor Ismael Mangudadatu, to file his certificate of candidacy to run for provincial governor when they were stopped by some 100 heavily armed men and taken hostage on a remote highway in Barangay Salman near the town of Ampatuan.

A few kilometers off the main highway, on a remote hilltop covered with waist-high grass, bodies lay with twisted hands reaching in the air. They had been shot point-blank.

Nearby, bodies were being laid out under banana leaves as police – whose faces covered against the stench – unearthed a mass grave containing the victims from Monday’s ambush (November 23) on an election caravan.

The discovery now brought the death toll to 57 -an unprecedented act of violence at the outset of the country’s election season.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared a state of emergency in Maguindanao and a neighboring southern province, sending extra troops and police to try to impose the rule of law. “No effort will be spared to bring justice to the victims and hold the perpetrators accountable to the full limit of the law,” she said.

Arroyo’s peace adviser Jesus Dureza said he met Tuesday with Andal Ampatuan, the family’s patriarch, and received assurances that his family would cooperate in the investigation. However, it was not clear how far Arroyo’s administration would go in trying to force the provincial warlords to give up their weapons and private armies.

Julkipli Wadi, a professor of Islamic studies at the University of the Philippines, said he doubted the national government’s resolve in trimming the powers of political dynasties like the Ampatuans because they deliver votes during elections.

“Because of the absence of viable political institutions, powerful men are taking over,” he said. “Big political forces and personalities in the national government are sustaining the warlords, especially during election time, because they rely on big families for their votes.”

Nevertheless, among the journalists reportedly slain were Ian Subang (Dadiangas Times),  Leah Dalmacio (Forum), Gina dela Cruz (Today), Marites Cablitas (Today),  Joy Duhay (UNTV), Henry Araneta (DZRH),  Andy Teodoro (Mindanao Inquirer),  Neneng Montaño (formerly of RGMA),  Bong Reblando, (Manila Bulletin), Victor Nuñez (UNTV),  Macmac Ariola (UNTV), Jimmy Cabillo (UNTV), Bart Maravilla (Bombo Radyo, Koronadal) and lawyers  Cynthia Oquendo and Connie Brizuela, according to a statement from University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UP CMC), citing reports.

“This incident not only erases all doubts about the Philippines being the most dangerous country for journalists in the world, outside of Iraq, it could very well place the country on the map as a candidate for a failed democracy,” the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines said in a statement.