Media groups mark ninth year since Ampatuan massacre
MANILA, Philippines — Nine years have passed since the single, deadliest attack on the press happened in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao yet the call for justice among members of the media has not waned.
On Friday, journalists commemorated the Ampatuan massacre that claimed 58 lives, 32 of which are their colleagues who were merely “doing their jobs” and covering an election-related event.
They were on their way to a local Commission on Elections office to witness the filing of the certificate of candidacy for then Buluan vice mayor Esmael Mangudadatu when they were flagged and killed by gunmen in Ampatuan town.
Speed up trial
The Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines called on the government to speed up the resolution on the criminal cases over the Ampatuan massacre.
FOCAP noted that the case against the Ampatuans has dragged on for more than a decade. “The continuing injustice is a stark reminder of the impunity that the government has failed to end in the country,” they said.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, meanwhile, lamented the road to justice against the perpetrators of the Ampatuan masscare. They recalled how legal experts said that the case was “designed to fail.”
They pointed out that the then-Justice department opted to charge 190 persons, “instead of concentrating first on the principal suspects,” who are members of the Ampatuan clan—believed to be the brains behind the gruesome crime.
Back then, “the most optimistic opinion on when the earliest conviction could be expected was 10 years.”
A year short of a decade, and the Justice department said that the multiple murder cases against Andal “Datu Unsay” Ampatuan Jr. and other accused have been submitted for resolution.
While Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said that his department “could have done it faster,” he said that a decision may be expected within the first half of 2019.
Guevarra also said that he is confident that the government will secure a conviction. “As least for the principal accused, the evidence appears to be very strong, from the DOJ’s point of view,” he added.
The families of the victims, who went to the Philippine National Museum as a form of healing and self-reflection on Thursday, welcomed this development with tempered hope.
They said that to have a case on the massacre—globally condemned for its violence—is “already quite momentous.”
“The impending decision will undoubtedly go down in Philippine history as one of the most significant legal decisions to ever come from our trial courts regardless of the outcome,” they added.
Call for justice
In days leading to the ninth year since the Ampatuan massacre, members of the media met with families at what has come to be called the "massacre site" in Ampatuan, Maguindanao.
NUJP Chair Nonoy Espina noted that members of the media and families of the slain are again meeting in November.
He remarked in Bisaya before the families: "We are gathered again this year... when have we ever gathered out of happiness because we have achieved justice?"
Espina noted that the process to achieving justice is long and tiring. But, "we can't have shortcuts to justice," he added.
Malou Mangahas of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalists said that while political relationships appeared to have been mended, the fight for justice continues.
Ayesha Dilangalen, relative of Mangudadatu, recalled that she was encouraged to join the filing, but was not able to join so she was spared from the violence.
"Hanggang ngayon, naghahangad kami ng hustisya, sana sa bagong administrasyon, mabigyan na kami ng hustisya," she said.
"Hindi po namin pinupulitika ito (killings), dahil nangyari nga ang krimen na ito dahil din sa pulitika," Dilangalen added.
The commemoration was organized jointly by MindaNews, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Center for Media Freedom, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and Philippine Press Institute as part of the "Freedom For Media, Freedom For All" campaign. — Kristine Joy Patag and Jonathan de Santos
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