10 years of monstrous injustice
It remains the most horrific media killing of all time, and certainly the biggest killing in Philippine peacetime history. It was also election-related.
On Nov. 23, 2009, a convoy of relatives of Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu, along with supporters and media personnel, were on their way to file Mangudadatu’s certificate of candidacy at the Commission on Elections office in Shariff Aguak when they were stopped at a police checkpoint and abducted by more than 100 armed men belonging to the rival Ampatuan clan. Mangudadatu was challenging Andal Ampatuan Jr., son of then Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., for the gubernatorial seat of Maguindanao.
The group was brought to Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town, where a backhoe emblazoned with “Property of the province of Maguindanao — Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr.” had dug three mass graves. The men fired on their captives and mowed everyone down; 58 people died, and then were buried en masse right there and then. Among the dead were Mangudadatu’s wife Bai Gigi Mangudadatu, Mangudadatu’s sisters and their supporters.
Also, in a single blow, 32 journalists were killed; the international watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists continues to rank this incident as the single deadliest event for journalists in history. Tragically, several others who had nothing to do with the convoy save for being on the same lane at the same time were likewise killed, along with several possible witnesses and their relatives. The bodies, some of them hacked to pieces and others said to be defiled, were not buried because the perpetrators had to flee when the military arrived.
In response to this monstrous atrocity that jolted the world, then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared martial law in Maguindanao. Andal Sr. and Jr., Arroyo’s erstwhile political allies, were both charged, along with almost 200 others, for the killings. The Quezon City Regional Trial Court began formal proceedings on Aug. 31, 2010.
That was 10 years ago. For many younger Filipinos, what has come to be known as the Maguindanao massacre has largely receded into a vague, negligible memory. That lamentable state of affairs is reflected in the pursuit of justice for the massacre’s victims, which has spanned a long, grinding decade with no signs of any clear resolution. Not only has the trial gone on for 10 years now with still not a single conviction on record; so many things have also transpired in the meantime that may eventually thwart any full reckoning for what had happened.
Andal Sr. passed away in captivity at the age of 74 behind bars after struggling with liver cancer. A number of witnesses have either recanted their testimonies, or were killed in ambush, their assassins never to be apprehended. Charges of attempted bribery have been leveled at the Ampatuans, who have reportedly approached victims and their lawyers to offer millions in exchange for withdrawal from the case. Most shockingly, it has come to light that two members of the Ampatuan clan had enjoyed the privilege of being allowed into Malacañang to meet with ex-Ampatuan counsel and now presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo, and to plead their case personally with President Duterte.
Hopes had been expressed some months ago that with the trial proper now wrapped up, the court was on the verge of issuing verdicts and finally providing some closure to this festering case. “The DOJ (Department of Justice) expects that a judgment will be rendered before the 10th anniversary of the infamous massacre on 23 November 2019, and that justice will finally be served,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said in August. “The trial of the Maguindanao massacre was finally completed on 17 July 2019. The parties were given until 15 August 2019 to submit simultaneously their respective memorandum or written summation, after which the case shall be considered as submitted for decision, with or without the memoranda of the parties.”
Nov. 23 is barely a month from now. Is a decision coming out in the next few days or weeks? The court handling the sprawling multiple-murder raps remains mum, while the families of the victims, as well as citizens who continue to remember, remain anxious. That decision is long past due. The unresolved status of this singularly diabolic criminal act has gone on for far too long, and 10 years without just punishment for any of its perpetrators is not only unconscionable, but an indictment to high heavens of the country’s deeply flawed justice system.
