On Ampatuan massacre anniversary, Andanar says gov't wants quick resolution of attacks on media

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar on Saturday marked the tenth year since the Ampatuan massacre, calling the long wait for justice for the victims intolerable.

Andanar also said the government will continue to work towards resolving other media killings.

"The Duterte administration and the Presidential Task Force on Media Security will continue to perform their duties so that instances where brutal killings, such as that in the Maguindanao Massacre, will not go unpunished for years or more so will never happen at all," Andanar, who PTFoMS co-chair, said.

"Ten years of delayed justice is intolerable and ignominious," Andanar said. 

"We are hopeful that the law will prevail and the court will rule in favor of the victims’ families, putting an end to the injustice they have had to endure for years, as the decision on the case will be out soon."

Human Rights Watch said the long delays demonstrated the urgent need to fix a broken judicial system in the Philippines. 

"The 2009 massacre prompted calls to fix the Philippines’ political, criminal and judicial systems. While there have been efforts at judicial reform, legacies of dysfunction in the country remain alive and well," Human Rights Watch-Asia Division researcher Carlos Conde said in a press release.

The deadline for the decision on the decade-long case was extended once again in November, according to Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta in his first media briefing with reporters. 

According to Peralta, Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes asked for an extension of one month to rule on the murder case against Datu Andal Ampatuan, Jr. and over 100 others due to the “voluminous records" in the case.

The decision is set to come out on or before December 20, less than a month from Saturday's anniversary.  

It has been ten years now since the worst case of election-related violence in Philippine history as well as the single deadliest attack on media workers worldwide took place. 

And since then, despite the pronouncements of Andanar, his office and the Duterte administration, the Philippines has been recognized by media watchdog groups and journalists as the second most dangerous country for media practitioners, second only to Iraq.

In the days leading up to the killing's tenth anniversary, journalist groups held candle-lighting protests to call for justice for the slaying. On November 17, the family members of the victims of the Ampatuan massacre again visited the site of the killing at Sitio Masalay in Ampatuan, Maguindanao.

The archipelago also currently stands at the 134th spot in the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index. There were 180 countries included in the list. 

"We will work to prevent and put an end to attacks on journalists, who are simply fulfilling their obligations to disseminate truth and information to the public," Andanar also said in closing his statement.

"In cases where they are harmed or killed, we will aim to deliver swift justice and make the perpetrators answer to the law."