The admission of suspended ARMM governor Zaldy Ampatuan to the Philippine Heart Center for medical checkup underscores the need for heightened public vigilance against attempts to undermine the arduous search for justice for the Ampatuan massacre victims.
We cannot help but suspect that this could be part of what some quarters have called the “grand scheme” to let Ampatuan off the hook on the 57 counts of murder he is facing for the massacre, in exchange for testimony that will help feed the Aquino administration’s obsession with prosecuting former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
By all means, President Aquino should pursue all avenues to bring his predecessor to account for everything she has done against our country and people, including the unsurpassed record of 104 journalists—including our 32 colleagues who died in the massacre—murdered with impunity during her nine years in power.
But, we reiterate, this administration should not sacrifice the search for justice for the massacre victims on the altar of political expediency.
We call on our colleagues in media and the Filipino people to keep close watch and stand united to ensure that this bloody page in our history shall not end in a travesty of justice.
—NESTOR P. BURGOS JR.,
chair; ROWENA PARAAN,
secretary general,
National Union of Journalists
of the Philippines,
nujphil@gmail.comalet