13 years since Ampatuan Massacre, families of victims continue to call for justice
MANILA, Philippines — Thirteen years since the Ampatuan Massacre — long recognized as the deadliest attack on journalists in the world — and justice continues to remain elusive for the families of the 58 victims killed in the 2009 massacre in Maguindanao.
According to the Office of the Press Secretary last week, an appeal by prosecutors has led to the conviction of another accessory, bringing the number of convicted to 44. This, while 83 accused in the murder cases, are still at large.
In a statement Wednesday, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines noted that the "culture of impunity on attacks against journalists continues to reign."
The NUJP said it held a short commemoration program on November 20, families with Justice Now — the organization of victims' families — to reaffirm their commitment to continue calling for justice in the Ampatuan Massacre case.
"Part of that call for justice is the recognition that there were 58 victims of the massacre and that the trial should include the murder of Reynaldo Momay, whose dentures were found at the massacre site and who was confirmed to have joined the coverage on November 23," it said.
Since the Quezon City Regional Trial Court's historic in December 2019, masterminds Datu Andal Jr and Zaldy Ampatuan have brought the conviction to the Court of Appeals.
"While this is within their right and is part of court processes, this also means the families face a longer wait for full justice as well as for compensation for the loved ones they lost on November 23, 2009," the NUJP said.
"We [...] hope, along with the families, that full justice will not take another 13 years. As the Justice Now families have stressed, forgetting is not an option for us," it also said.
The Philippines' ranking in the World Press Freedom Index slipped nine notches to 147th among 180 countries this year, according to a report released by the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) last May.
The RSF cited the "government's targeted attacks and constant harassment, since 2016, of journalists and media outlets that are too critical.”
In the Committee to Protect Journalists' 2021 World Impunity Index, the Philippines placed seventh in the list of countries “where journalists are murdered and the perpetrators go free.”
Since the Ampatuan Massacre of 2009, 49 more journalists have been killed —23 under the Duterte regime which was openly hostile to the media, and three under the Marcos II regime.
Rights group Karapatan, in a separate statement, called the controversial Anti-Terror Law and the Anti-Cybercrime Law the "newer and more menacing forms" of attacks on the press in recent memory.
"Fuelling the culture of impunity that emboldens the attackers of free speech are old and new laws that pose various restraints on press freedom...Recent history gives us ample proof that threats and attacks against journalists and the right to free speech have not abated, and have instead taken newer and more menacing forms," it said.
"Nowadays, news organizations and journalists are routinely red-tagged and branded as 'terrorists' by government and security officials, marking them as potential targets of discrimination, harassment and murder."
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