MAGUINDANAO – It has been 5 long years since 58 people, including over 30 journalists and media workers, were abducted at gunpoint on a highway in Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao, and brutally killed.
More than 200 armed men, many of them militias and policemen, taking orders from the alleged mastermind, brought the victims to a remote location in Ampatuan town and raked them all with automatic weapons.
The journalists were just covering the political convoy of Esmael Mangudadatu, who was challenging Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan, Sr. who is the patriarch of a clan that long held power in the province.
His son and namesake, Andal, Jr., then mayor of Datu Unsay town, and another son, Zaldy Ampatuan, the former regional governor, and several other clan members along with dozens more who are now in jail, had been implicated in the massacre.
The accused have all denied the charges against them. And many witnesses to the gruesome crime had been killed while others were bribed to prevent them from testifying.
The slow progress of the cases is also putting a stress – both psychologically and spiritually –to the families of those who perished in the massacre.
Various local and international media groups and organizations have repeatedly appealed to President Benigno Aquino to stop the continued murders of journalists and end impunity in the country.
The National Press Club of the Philippines has unfurled black drapes on the facade of its headquarters in Manila to symbolize 5 years of mourning over the Maguindanao massacre.
“Almost half a decade had passed, impunity reigns as masterminds and perpetrators of this worst case of media killings in history were still unpunished. The promise of President Aquino for swift delivery of justice for the massacre victims remains unfulfilled,” NPC president Joel Egco said.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines also released a 30-second video (Backhoe) to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the November 23 Maguindanao massacre in cooperation with the Philippine Integrated Advertising Agency and WYD Productions.
The International Federation of Journalists also launched the End Impunity campaign 2014 and urged authorities of the countries with the highest death tolls of journalists to investigate these killings and bring their perpetrators to justice.
“We hope this high profile campaign will make a difference to the fight against impunity in these countries and we call for your support, solidarity and action in the months ahead,” IFJ said.
The UN Day against impunity for violence targeting journalists was adopted on December 18, 2013 and marked for the first time on November 2 – the first anniversary of the killings of two RFI reporters, Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, in Kidal, Mali.
“This will be another opportunity for the IFJ to press governments around the world on their obligation to investigate attacks on journalists and punish their perpetrators,” IFJ said.
The launch of the campaign came ahead of the commemoration of the Maguindanao massacre – the single deadliest attack on media in the Philippines. Since 2011, this day has been adopted by IFEX members as the International Day against Impunity. (Mindanao Examiner)
Letter to Pope Francis, read by Grace Morales on November 21, 2014 at the massacre site where more than dozens of journalists and kin of the Maguindanao massacre victims commemorated the 5th year of the massacre.
Grace is the widow of Rosell Morales and sister of Marites Cablitas, circulation manager and publisher of News Focus at the time of the incident.
Liham para kay Pope Francis,
Kami ay mga asawa, anak, magulang at kapatid ng mga pinaslang sa bayan ng Ampatuan, Maguindanao noong ika -23 ng Nobyembre 2009. Ang aming mga mahal sa buhay ay kasama sa masaker kung saan 58 ang nasawi kabilang ang 32 mamahayag.
Taun-taon ay bumabalik kami rito sa lugar na ito kung saan ang dugo nila ay kumalat nang pagbabarilin sila sa utos ng mga Ampatuan. Ngunit hindi lamang sila pinagbabaril. Ibinaon ang mahigit kalahati sa kanila kasama ang mga sasakyan sa pamamagitan ng backhoe na ginamit sa paggawa ng hukay at pagpitpit sa mga sasakyan upang mas madaling mapagkasya ang mga ito at ang mga bangkay sa hukay.
Limang taon na ang nakaraan mula nang maganap ito. Limang taon na mula nang ang mga anak namin ay nawalan ng mga tatay o nanay na dapat ay gumagabay sa kanilang paglaki.Limang taon na mula nang ang mga asawa sa amin ay nawalan ng katuwang sa pagtataguyod ng aming tahanan. Limang taon na nang mawalan kami ng mga kapatid na naging kalaro sa paglaki at ngayo’y puntod na lamang na dinadalaw sa sementeryo.
Hindi po perpekto ang aming mga kamag-anak. Nakakagawa rin po sila ng mga kasalanan noong sila’y nabubuhay at nakakalimot paminsan-minsan sa mga banal na utos ng Panginoon. Subalit ang patayin sila ng ganun na lamang at ibaon ng parang mga hayop ay hindi katanggap-tanggap.
Dito sa lugar na ito kung saan umalingawngaw ang putok mula sa mga baril na kumitil sa kanilang buhay…dito sa lugar na ito kung saan nagsumamo silang huwag patayin…dito sa lugar na ito kung saan nawala ang pag-asa ng 58 pamilya.
Nagsusumamo kami sa iyo, mahal na Santo Papa, na tulungan kaming mabigyan ng hustisya. Alam po naming hindi na maibabalik ang buhay ng aming mga mahal sa buhay. Subalit naniniwala kaming ang Diyos ay isang Diyos na may pagmamahal sa katulad naming maliliit at walang kakayahang ipagtanggol ang sarili.
Bigyan nyo po kami ng lakas ng loob upang ipagpatuloy ang paghahanap ng katarungan.Bigyan nyo po kami ng sapat na lakas para maitawid ang pang-araw araw na pangangailangan ng aming pamilya.Bigyan nyo po kami ng linaw ng isip para magawa ang mga tamang desisyon. Kami’y mga simpleng tao, wala sa kapangyarihan at walang kayamanan.
Subalit sa inyong tulong, dasal at pagpapala, umaasa kaming magkakaroon ng lakas para ipaglaban ang katarungan.Tinitingnan namin ang inyong darating na pagdalaw sa Enero bilang isang simbolo ng pagmamahal ng Diyos sa mga katulad naming naghahanap ng hustisya.
Kaya dito sa lugar na ito, limang taon makaraan ang masaker, hinihiling namin na kami’y iyong ipagdasal at sa kahit anong paraang maari, bilang pinakamataas na pinuno ng Simbahang Katoliko, ay samahan kami sa paglalakbay tungo sa katarungan.
Gumagalang,
Mga asawa, anak, kapatid at magulang ng mga pinaslang na media sa Sitio Masalay, Bgy. Salman, Ampatuan, Maguindanao
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