The massacre in Maguindanao could have been averted had Congress passed a law implementing the constitutional provision against political dynasties. The Constitutional Commission that drafted the Constitution made a mistake by adding the clause “subject to an enabling law” to the anti-dynasty provision. They should have made that provision self-implementing. For who is the senator or congressman who would file a bill when many of our legislators are themselves members of family dynasties? A bill like that does not have a ghost of a chance of hurdling Congress which is dominated by family dynasties.
How could a law against family dynasties have prevented the Maguindanao massacre? Because such a law, if strictly enforced, could have prevented “warlordism.” Since 2001, Maguindanao has been ruled by two warlord clans: the Ampatuans and the Mangudadatus. Today siblings, children, grandchildren, in-laws and other relatives are officials of the provincial and municipal governments. As the Inquirer list last Wednesday showed, the Ampatuan dynasty has 16 officials in the LGUs: 2 congressmen, 2 governors, 1 vice governor, 3 provincial board members, 8 mayors, and 2 vice mayors. The Mangudadatu dynasty, on the other hand, has 6 LGU officials: 1 congressman, 1 governor, 2 mayors, and 2 vice mayors.
The two families used to be political allies, both allies of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, both members of the administration Lakas-Kampi-CMD Party.
The Ampatuans made Arroyo win by a landslide in the 2004 elections. The opposition got zero votes in many Maguindanao municipalities. There are unconfirmed reports that Arroyo had Virgilio Garcillano of the “Hello, Garci” tape hidden by the Ampatuans at the height of the scandal. That is why Garci could not be found when there was supposed to be a widespread search for him in Mindanao.
And that is why Malacañang is reportedly treating the Ampatuans with kid gloves now? They reportedly know so many things about the election where Arroyo won by a landslide. Try to bring them to the bar of justice and they might sing their heads off. That is why the national government is treading softly and slowly. It’s buying time, both for itself and the Ampatuans, until they have concocted a credible story on who was behind the massacre. Probable scapegoats: a “lost command” of the MILF, or members of the Abu Sayyaf.
But making up a credible story would be difficult. The evidence against the Ampatuans, although circumstantial, are damning. Circumstantial because there are no witnesses—the killers made sure of that. Everybody in the Mangudadatu convoy was massacred. That is why more than a dozen media men were not spared. They would have been witnesses. Even innocent civilians just passing through were murdered. Dead men tell no tales. Even the vehicles they were riding in were buried with the corpses. They would have done the same with the five vehicles in the Mangudadatu convoy and the corpses if they had more time. There would have been no visible evidence of what happened to them. They would have just disappeared, swallowed by the earth—literally.
So far, 57 corpses have been recovered. The number may still increase. A number of people are still missing.
The brutality of the massacre has shocked not only the Philippines but the whole world. The Philippines is now rated as the most dangerous place for journalists, behind even war-torn Iraq.
The killings were so cold-blooded and brutal that even Filipinos inured to political killings during election seasons were shocked and outraged. Even the political allies of the Ampatuans, Arroyo and her subordinates, tried to distance themselves from the family. Lakas-Kampi, of which the Ampatuans are members, lost no time in expelling the family from the party at the prodding of its standard-bearer, former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro. Gibo realizes that if an endorsement by Arroyo is a “kiss of death” to his candidacy, this atrocity by party members would be the last nail on the coffin of his presidential ambition.
Arroyo declared a national day of mourning for the victims and Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita pathetically declared that “we are only human” as his excuse for failing to stop the massacre. Ermita announced that black ribbons would be put up in the Malacañang grounds.
Words, words, words. A day of mourning and black ribbons won’t bring the victims back to life. They won’t put the people who murdered them in prison. They won’t assuage an outraged public. The President will have to do better than mouth empty words written by her ghostwriters. She will have to bring the murderers to justice and put the real ghosts of the victims to rest.
It has been five days since Monday’s massacre, yet nobody has been arrested, no charges filed, nor the principal suspects questioned.
“We are still investigating,” is the government’s lame excuse. “There are no witnesses, no evidence.”
But there is strong circumstantial evidence pointing to the Ampatuans. And as Chair Leila de Lima of the Commission on Human Rights said, circumstantial evidence is enough to prosecute.
What are these circumstantial evidence? There is a backhoe of the provincial government with the name of Governor Ampatuan painted on its side that was left at the site. It was obviously used to dig the mass graves. The killings were premeditated. The wife of Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu called her husband and told him that she was slapped by one of the gunmen whom she identified as “Ampatuan’s men.” She was among those killed. Esmael had been threatened that he would be “chopped to pieces” if he tried to file his certificate of candidacy for governor. He stayed away but sent at least 57 others to their doom.
