Int’l groups scowl at slow pace of justice

SIX years after the massacre of 58 persons, 32 of them from the media, the world is dismayed at the slow pace of justice for victims of the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre in Ampatuan, Maguindanao.

“Justice remains elusive,” noted a statement of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (Ifex), a Montreal-based network of 104 free expression campaign organizations in 65 countries.

The Ifex pointed out that the “glacial pace of the (legal) proceedings” to bring to justice the perpetrators contributes to the “ingrained culture of impunity” in the Philippines.

Such culture of impunity, it added, “not only denies justice to the victims of this (massacre) case” but also sows fear to society, in general, hence “muzzles the media and promotes self-censorship.”

Throughout the Ifex network, Nov. 23 is commemorated as International Day to End Impunity.

In the Philippines, Ifex counts as member the media development group Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR).

On Nov. 23, 2009, in the quiet hills of Masalay in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, a gang of men led by then Datu Unsay town mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. believed to be acting under the general direction of his father, Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr., massacred 58 people in broad daylight and were in the process of burying them in three pits when authorities closed in.

Some 32 of those killed were journalists and media workers out to cover the filing of a certificate of candidacy for governor of then Buluan town vice mayor Esmael Mangudadatu through his wife, in Maguindanao’s capital of Shariff Aguak.

Mangudadatu had said that Andal Sr., the outgoing governor, earlier threatened to do everything to stop anyone from contesting for the seat which he had reserved for his son and namesake.

The killing of 32 journalists and media workers was the worst single attack on the press. And its scale and horror shocked the world.

Since Nov. 2, the Philippines shares with Mexico, Ukraine and Yemen the impunity spotlight throughout the world in a three-week campaign by international groups to call attention to the grave problems faced by journalists in these countries.

No one has yet been convicted for involvement in the massacre. One of its principal suspects, Andal Sr., has died of liver failure while in detention.

Another key suspect, Andal’s son Sajid, is out on bail and is running for mayor of Shariff Aguak town under the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) of Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Some 197 people were accused as having a role in the crime, 18 of whom carry the surname Ampatuan. Some 80 suspects are still at large.

A fact-finding mission launched by the International Federation of  Journalists (IFJ) last year noted that the Philippine National Police’s Task Force Usig found that among those still at large are four members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, five police officers, and 53 members of government-supported paramilitary Civilian Volunteer Organization (CVO).

“These suspects are on the government payroll and yet… government cannot find and arrest them,” lamented the IFJ in a recent statement.

“Even more worrying is the failure to protect witnesses in the trial. To date four witnesses have been killed,” added the IFJ which represents some 600,000 journalists throughout the world.

“The Maguindanao massacre has become emblematic of the culture of impunity which is so entrenched in the Philippines,” the IFJ further stressed.

Since the carnage in late 2009, 32 more names have been added to the list of journalists killed for carrying out their work in the country, according to records of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).

The IFJ raised concern over what it observes as the authorities’ playing “indifferent to the safety crisis in media…”

“Perhaps nothing can illustrate better this indifference than the remarks of (President) Benigno Aquino III himself during a press conference at the White House in 2014 when he purported to play down the need to tackle violence on journalists,” the IFJ said.

President Aquino told White House reporters then: “Perhaps we are very sensitive to personal relationships by the people who are deceased, who are killed not because of professional activities but, shall we say, other issues.”

“It is troubling to note the lack of understanding for the urgent need to protect journalists on the part of the highest authority in the Philippines, which has led to accusations of lack of political will to enforce the rule of law and accountability and ensure there is deterrence against violence targeting journalists,” the IFJ explained.