Journalists, students and multi-sectoral groups commemorate the 3rd anniversary of the ‘Maguindanao massacre’ in southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Geo Solmerano)
ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 23, 2012) – Journalists and various groups in the southern Philippines commemorated the third year of the massacre of 58 people in Maguindanao province.
Among those brutally killed were 32 journalists and media workers who were covering a political caravan on November 23, 209.
Authorities said some 200 gunmen and members of the powerful political Ampatuan clan were behind the mass killings in an effort to stop the candidacy of rival political Esmael Mangudadatu, who is now the governor of Maguindanao.
In Davao City, journalists said President Benigno Aquino III has not done enough to avert media killings and harassments contrary to what he had promised during the election campaign.
“Today, as we mark the 3rd year of the grisly killing of 58 persons, we strongly demand for justice not only for the victims of Ampatuan massacre, but for all the 154 media workers killed since the restoration of democracy in 1986. We should join hands to hold accountable the Aquino administration for allowing the state of impunity to continue,” said the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines-Davao chapter.
NUJP members in General Santos City, Cotabato and Zamboanga also held separate programs as tribute to the murdered journalists and media workers. Journalists and cause-oriented groups in Kidapawan and Cagayan de Oro held mock funeral.
In Zamboanga City, journalists headed by Frencie Carreon, president of the local NUJP group; Julie Alipala, NUJP director; Darwin Wee, NUJP past president; Philip Abuy, president of the Zamboanga Press Club; the Peace Advocates Zamboanga under Spanish priest Angel Calvo; and Jesuit priest Albert Alejo led the commemoration of the killings at the Paseo del Mar where they deployed over a hundred Chinese lanterns.
They demanded justice for the victims of the massacre.
Members of the Crime Watch Volunteers under Sonny Jalani and students from Ateneo de Zamboanga University and Western Mindanao State University, Southern City Colleges, Zamboanga State College of Marine Sciences and Technology, Simpson Alliance School, Mein College, Immaculate Conception Elementary School, Immaculate Conception Archdiocesan School, Nuevo Zamboanga College, Zamboanga National High School Main, and Universidad de Zamboanga, including civilians also joined the event, Carreon said.
The NUJP also thanked Distrito restaurant for allowing the journalists to use their sound system. (Mindanao Examiner. With reports from Greg Leano, Alvin Lardizabal and Geo Solmerano)
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