MANILA, Philippines - On the fifth year of the Maguindanao Massacre, the Center for International Law (CenterLaw) Philippines called on President Benigno Aquino III to provide reparations, compensation and satisfaction to the families of the victims of the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre.
The law group emphasized that under the international law, the government should provide assistance to the heirs of the victims.
“If the Philippine’s can pay 1.5 Million Pesos to the family of a Taiwanese fisherman shot dead by a Philippine coast guard patrol last 2013, why can’t the Philippines pay compensation with the same dispatch to journalists brutally murdered by Philippine state agents in the Maguindanao Massacre?” CenterLaw chairperson Harry Roque Jr. said.
Roque, also the counsel of the families of 15 out of 58 victims, noted that the country discriminates its own citizens and ignores its state obligations under the international human rights law.
CenterLaw urged the President to adopt measures such as arresting all 79 suspects at large and focusing on the prosecution of the accused Ampatuan clan members to finish the case before the end of his term on June 30, 2016.
Through the Roque and Butuyan Law Offices, CenterLaw introduced the "First in-First Out" concept wherein the Trial Court may announce judgment on the case as early as an accused over whom all evidences has been heard.
The Supreme Court implemented the said concept for the prosecution of the Maguindanao massacre cases.
At least 30 journalists were killed in the massacre while on the way to the provincial capitol in Shariff Aguak to file Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu's certificate of candidacy for the gubernatorial race in the May 2010 elections.
A witness of the case was killed in an ambush en route to a meeting with lawyers last Tuesday.
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