MAGUINDANAO (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 21, 2013) – Journalists and families of those among massacred in 2009 have paid tribute on the site where 58 people had been killed in Maguindanao province in southern Philippines.
Three contingents of journalists and families of victims from the cities of General Santos, Koronadal and Kidapawan joined the convoy to the massacre site. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines led the convoy.
“The site visit aims to show that members of the media, in Mindanao and elsewhere in the Philippines, remain united in seeking justice for Ampatuan Massacre victims. November 23 marks the fourth year since the massacre, the sorry incident that left 58 people dead, including 32 journalists, and has since placed the Philippines in the list of the most murderous countries for journalists,” NUJP said.
It said only 108 of the 196 accused in the mass murder have been arrested and 104 arraigned, but 88 suspects remain at large. In addition, at least three crucial witnesses – Esmail Enog, Jesse Upam, and Alijol Ampatuan – have been killed and other witnesses Bong Andal and Kenny Dalandag were barred from testifying.
Some of the Ampatuan political family allegedly linked to the murders have not been convicted and the trial still continues four years after the brutal killings.
Quezon City Representative Jose Christopher Belmonte has filed a resolution asking government to look into what he called the “correlation between corruption and media killings” and to “act with dispatch to strengthen press freedom and freedom of expression.”
He filed House Resolution No. 520 which directs “concerned executive agencies to speed up the prosecution and conviction of guilty parties in the Ampatuan massacre, to help the victims’ families and to conduct an investigation on the correlation between corruption and media killings; and urged members of both houses of Congress to act with dispatch to strengthen press freedom and freedom of expression.”
The resolution said the snail-paced progress of the case, the murder of witnesses, the pressure on victims’ families to settle and the continued failure to arrest all of the suspects have helped perpetuate the culture of impunity with which media killings and other human rights violations are committed, citing the 18 media killings under the current administration.
The resolution directs the Department of Justice to speed up the prosecution and conviction of those responsible for the Ampatuan massacre and security agencies to arrest all the remaining suspects and ensure the security of witnesses and the victims’ families.
It also asked the DOJ and law enforcement agencies “to produce a list of media killings, detailing the status of each case and the efforts needed to prosecute its perpetrators, especially the masterminds, and to make said list public with a commitment to do all that is necessary to end impunity.”
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