(Eagle News) — Relatives of 58 people slain in the tragic Maguindanao massacre, considered as the Philippines’ worst political massacre where many journalists were among those killed, called for justice on Saturday, a decade since the killings.
The relatives voiced anger at the slow pace of justice.
Of the 58 people killed in the November 2009 massacre, 32 were media workers.
Various groups also staged protests in Manila to mark the 10th anniversary of the gruesome mass killings which were election-related.
The groups which took to the streets included National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), Altermidya, College Editors Guild of the Philippines, Karapatan, Bayan and Bayan Muna.
https://youtu.be/eqcAt2a5XKM
The journalists killed in the massacre were just supposed to cover the filing of candidacy of then Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu. He invited 37 journalists to cover the scheduled filing of his certificate of candidacy (COC) at the Commission on Elections provincial office in Shariff Aguak.
His wife and other relatives were then about to file his COC to run for governor of Maguindanao.
“We have known for a long time who the guilty parties are. They must come out with the rightful decision now,” Jergin Malabanan, whose mother was among the journalists killed in one of the world’s deadliest ever attacks on media workers, told Agence France Presse.
Malabanan, who was 15 at the time, became the sole breadwinner for herself and four younger siblings with the death of her mother Gina de la Cruz, who was separated from her husband.
Ampatuan family dynasty leaders, who ruled the impoverished southern province of Maguindanao, are charged with organizing the killing in a bid to quash an election challenge from local rival Esmael Mangudadatu.
The case has dragged on for years, with allegations of bribery and delay tactics against the defense, which once included Salvador Panelo, President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman.
The trial ended in July, but the Supreme Court gave the lower court judge until December 20 to go over the evidence on which her verdict on some 100 defendants will be based.
A low-flying military helicopter dropped a shower of flowers Saturday as about a thousand relatives, journalists, friends and local officials gathered around a hilltop concrete marker where the 58 victims’ names were inscribed.
“Let us keep our guard up,” Mangudadatu, now a member of the House of Representatives, told the relatives, warning them the killers would likely use the appeals courts against any unfavorable verdict.
“We expect that my brother and the rest of the victims will finally get justice soon,” Freddie Ridao, a member of the executive council of the nearby city of Cotabato told AFP.
Though the Ampatuans no longer hold top elected posts in Maguindanao, official results show at least 25 of them, including one of the principal defendants who is out on bail, won local seats in May’s elections.
with a report from Agence France-Presse
