MANILA, Philippines - As a lawyer myself, I grieve for the heinous murder of two lady lawyers in Mindanao the other day. They were victims (46 in all) of the infamous politically-motivated Maguindanao massacre. Maguindanao is a Muslim-dominated province in the beautiful but violent Philippine island of Mindanao. Also killed were more than 12 media practitioners and many other ranking political personalities in the province belonging to the opposite camp of the incumbent Muslim provincial governor who heads the Ampatuan political clan. His clan is affiliated with the ruling (but soon to expire and lameduck) political party of Pres. Gloria Arroyo.
The two lady lawyers, namely, Atty. Concepcion “Connie” Brizuela, 56, and Atty. Cynthia Oquendo, 35, were the election lawyers of the Mangudadatu political clan, which is the strongest political opponent of the Ampatuan clan in Maguindanao province. Known as independent-minded and courageous lady advocates of alternative lawyering and human rights, lawyers Brizuela and Oquendo were active pro bono officers of the Union of Peoples Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM), a local voluntary bar association in that province known for its public interest advocacy.
When a republican country, like the Philippines, directly or indirectly abets the killing of lawyers and journalists, either by reason of selfish political loyalties and unconscionable greed for power of those in command of the levers of local and national power and economic wealth, or by reason of the lack of political will to enforce law and order and to defend the justice system on the part of the elective and appointive leaders and bureaucrats of the government, or by reason of gross stupidity and glaring ignorance of the rule of law of such inutile leaders, it will not take very long before its helpless and demoralized people see the violent death of its much-cherished democratic system. Such a situation will definitely produce a civil war in any society.
The Maguindanao massacre will go down in the international history of mass media as the worst ever killing of so many journalists on one single date and at one single place. It has been occupying the front pages and the headlines of major world dailies and television channels these past days. It is one of the worst black eyes to the current world image of Philippine democracy (destroying whatever positive points it has recently garnered by reason of Manny Pacquiao’s global historical feat in the realm of boxing and Efren Penaflorida’s much-acclaimed global “CNN Hero” award).
The United Nations, the European Union, and world organizations of media practitioners have issued very strong statements condemning the Maguindanao massacre.
Indeed, the whole world should unite to condemn and repudiate the massacre to teach the useless and corrupt Filipino political leaders and military and police generals a lesson by exposing them to global humiliation.
Humiliation is the best and the only teaching method that thieves and pirates disguised as elected politicians in expensive coats and ties and generals in shining military uniforms seem to seriously recognize. — MANUEL J. LASERNA Jr., Las Pinas City