Ampatuan Massacre: 11 years after, the quest for justice continues

 

NOVEMBER 23, 2009. It will most certainly live in infamy as the day of “the single worst case of journalist killings in the world, in all of history” that is the Ampatuan Massacre.

The worst political mass killing in the Philippines too – 58 fatalities, 32 of them media workers.

In December last year, five members of the Ampatuan clan were convicted of 57 counts of murder, including former Datu Unsay mayor Andal Jr. and his brothers former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy and former Shariff Aguak mayor Anwar Sr. and sentenced to life in prison.

Their father, clan patriarch and former Maguindanao governor Andal Sr., died in 2015 while in detention.

A total of 43 suspects were convicted while 56 were acquitted.

"This is momentous verdict should help provide justice to the families of the victims, and build towards greater accountability for rights abuses in the country," hailed Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

"Advocates should use this verdict to spur further political and judicial reforms to ultimately end the impunity that has plagued the country for far too long. More broadly, this verdict should prompt the country's political leaders to finally act to end state support for 'private armies' and militias that promotes the political warlordism that gave rise to the Ampatuans," he enthused.

The landmark convictions notwithstanding, the quest for justice over the 2009 Ampatuan Massacre is far from over.

For one, appeals remain pending nearly a year after the decision rendered by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes.

Two, scores of suspects have remained at large, 15 of whom per court records, are surnamed Ampatuan. There lies the sum of all fears of families of the victims, moreso, the witnesses.

In September, Presidential Communications Operations Office Undersecretary Joel Egco who sits as executive director of Presidential Task Force on Media Security was reported in media to have “touted” the decision of UNESCO to classify the Ampatuan Massacre case as “resolved” in its Observatory of Killed Journalists and Director General’s Report on the Safety of Journalists.

This prompted 18 groups and over 100 individuals, mostly human rights advocates and journalists, to write an appeal on the designation of the case, noting that one court decision “while a triumph of justice does not mean that the case is resolved,” citing the appeals and the remaining suspects who have yet to be arrested.

“This is the reason why the families of the 32 journalists who perished, as well as the witnesses who testified for the prosecution, continue to fear for their safety,” read the appeal letter. “As many are not enrolled in the Department of Justice’s witness protection program, and continue to live in their known communities, they remain exposed to possible retaliation and attacks.”

In response, UNESCO deputy director general Xing Qu said they have maintained that the case will remain classified as “ongoing/unresolved” after they learned that appeals have been launched.

Qu said the classification will remain “until such moment when a final verdict is reached by the Philippine judicial system.”

Impunity

Meanwhile, a Pangasinan-based radio commentator and columnist was gunned down by motorcycle-riding assailants only last Nov. 10, four years after surviving a similar attempt on his life.

Virgilio Maganes, a commentator for radio station dwPR, was shot several times while walking near his house at Sitio Licsab, Barangay San Blas, Villasis town at around 6:45 a.m. and was pronounced dead-on-the-spot.

Maganes was also wounded by gunmen in a motorcycle on Nov. 8, 2016.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said Maganes was the 18th journalist to be killed under the Duterte administration, and the 190th since 1986.

No end to impunity. The search for justice continues.

So, we recall anew what we wrote here on the second anniversary of the massacre…

But there shall be no forgetting.
The mourning continues.
The struggle for justice remains unceasing.
The fight to end the culture of impunity that caused and effected the massacre unwavering.
Heed us then the call to arms: “Do not go quietly into that good night…Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
To us the living is reposited that sacred duty until justice is done and the victims of the Ampatuan massacre, as well as all the martyrs in the cause of press freedom shall truly rest in peace…
Patuloy ang panaghoy, kaakibat ang pagpapaigting sa pakikibaka. Hanggang ang katarungan ay ganap na makamtan.
Ang paglimot sa adhikaing ito, ang paglihis sa tungkuling ito ay paglapastangan sa kadakilaan ng pagbuwis ng buhay ng mga martir ng Maguindanao.
…wala pa rin katapusan ang pagluluksa.

 

 

 

Rusted Rudy

 

Rusted Rudy

"IN THE plaintiffs' counties, they were denied the opportunity to have an unobstructed observation and ensure opacity," Mr. Giuliani said. "I'm not quite sure I know what opacity means. It probably means you can see, right?"

"It means you can't," said U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann.

So blundered Rudy Giuliani in a Pennsylvania court as he tried to make the case that President Donald Trump was robbed of re-election.

“Over the next few hours [Giuliani] fiddled with his Twitter account, forgot which judge he was talking to and threw around wild, unsupported accusations about a nationwide conspiracy by Democrats to steal the election,” reported the UK’s Evening Standard on Nov. 18.

“Rusty” the paper called Rudy, the “hard-nosed federal prosecutor who made a name for himself going after New York mobsters in the 1980s” absent from court as an attorney since 1992.

Rusted is more like it, from where I sit, given that steely determination, of that solid character that Mayor Giuliani impacted the whole world with in resurrecting his New York City from the utter devastation of the 9/11 attacks.

That solid leadership in the worst of crises made of Giuliani a presidential timber. As he, indeed, made his bid for the Republican nomination: starting off with a “significant lead” in the national polls but cutting his run short in Jan. 2008 when he finished third in the Florida primary to eventual nominee John McCain.

Still, the adulation of Giuliani remained high worldwide. Here’s something I wrote here in Aug. 2008 of that high-priced speaking engagement he did in Manila.

Leadership crisis

“WHY PAY P22,000 per seat when we have plenty of heroes here, leaders that are tried and tested in crisis?” asked Senator Richard Gordon, finding incredulous the high cost of hearing former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speak in person.
Giuliani was speaker in a forum dubbed “Leadership in Times of Crisis” at the Makati Shangri-la Tuesday where a table for 12 cost P242,000, a “priority table” near the stage, P300,000 and the last two rows the P22,000-seat.
The erudite Gordon has a point. We have a surfeit of tried and tested leaders like himself, like City of San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez – to name just two – whose characters were forged through the crucible of crises, not the least of which was the Mount Pinatubo catastrophe.
A nation in perpetual crisis, both natural and man-made, the Philippines is the perfect laboratory for “Leadership in Times of Crisis.”
So, why the need for Rudy the Rock – the moniker he got for presiding over the rise of New York City from the devastation of 9/11 – to tell us what it’s all about?
Blame the persistence in our collective memory of the superiority of the White Big Brother in knowing what is best for us little brown ‘uns. Ah, the indelibility of our colonial mentality. After all these years of our proclaimed independence, the 300 years of Spanish colonialism and more than 50 years of American imperialism are still well ensconced in the Filipino psyche.
Especially among our ilustrados who find P22,000 a seat – take-home pay for the day of some 50 wage earners – loose change vis-à-vis the great opportunity offered only to the chosen few to rub elbows with Giuliani. It was all image, not message that they paid for.
What Giuliani spoke about was the least that mattered to these ilustrados. Leadership manuals from the Harvard Business School, and those culled from the experiences of business and political leaders have certainly more substance than Giuliani’s talk.
Even if one wanted pure Giuliani leadership, he need not fork over P22,000 just to get something from him.
Saturday before Giuliani’s expensive peroration, I was rummaging through the stacks of books at Booksale in Robinsons Starmills. Guess what I found – Leadership by Rudolph W. Giuliani, talk miramax books, published 2002 by Hyperion, New York.
Giuliani’s talk at the Makati forum centered on his “Six Pillars” of leadership. The book had not only six but 14 great columns that provide the base of support to leadership, which comprised the very titles of the chapters.
So self-explanatory, a simple scan of the table of contents would make the reader readily understand what the book was all about.
In my case, there was automatic cross-checking of Giuliani’s precepts with some similar, as well as dissimilar ones, from other books on leadership, including The Art of War, Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun, The 48 Steps to Power, Certain Trumpets, and The Heart of a Leader to name but a few.
And some introspection too: I put the faces of local leaders either as the theses or antitheses to Giuliani’s chapter titles.
Like Mabalacat Mayor Boking Morales as a testament to Weddings Discretionary, Funerals Mandatory. No, this has nothing to do with the five-term mayor’s marital state but everything with his self-imposed obligation to attend the wakes and funerals of his constituents.
Vice Gov. Yeng Guiao makes a paladin for First Things First and Prepare Relentlessly be it in his coaching job in the PBA or in going about his work at the capitol, especially when at odds with the Governor.
Ah, the Governor. Notwithstanding the accolades from the ilustrados’ Ateneo de Manila and the inquisitorial Inquirer, Eddie Panlilio makes the antithetical representation for the chapters, to wit:
Surround Yourself With Great People, he being surrounded by only one, and not even near-great, at that.
Everyone Accountable, All of the Time, exempting himself as he lays the blame on others for any failure of his administration.
Reflect, Then Decide, kneejerk urges and surges were those insipid memos of “caretaker administration,” “blanket authority,” and the non-confirmation, to name just three.
Be Your Own Man, so, ain’t the Governor unbecomed by a woman?
Loyalty: The Vital Virtue, so why are his campaign supporters Madame Lolita Hizon and family, Rene Romero and fellow businessmen now saying those nasty things about his (mal)administration? So what do you make of the constant comings and goings of staff at the Governor’s Office?
Underpromise and Overdeliver, he promised to take the concerns of the poor to the Capitol, he delivered the desperate charity-seekers to the fund-challenged provincial board.
For the rest of the chapters – Develop and Communicate Strong Beliefs; Stand Up to Bullies; Study. Read. Learn Independently; Organize Around a Purpose; Bribe Only Those Who Will Stay Bribed – make your own opinion.
This much, and more, I got from Giuliani without having to attend that Makati forum and scrape my knees for P22,000. The cover price of his book? US$25.95. I got it for a measly P120.00, jacketed and hardcover.
As an aside now, maybe I may have been hasty in dismissing Giuliani’s talk about “Leadership in Times of Crisis,” believing that Filipinos can do a lot better.
I guess the subject I had in mind was “Times of Crisis in Leadership.”

COME TO THINK of it now. With the pandemic of crises devastating the land, is it just me seeing Rusted Rudy all-too-easily segueing to Randy Rody?

 

 

Prescient Gina

 “WHO SUFFERS if you kill the environment? It’s the poor. And whose duty is it to protect our people? It’s the government. And when you make decisions based on business interests, you have shirked your responsibility. You have lost the moral ascendancy to rule the government because, to you, business and money are more important than the welfare of our people.”

The valedictory of Gina Lopez, at her March 3, 2017 rejection by the Commission on Appointments as secretary of the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources has come to haunt the nation in the wake of successive typhoons Pepito, Quinta, super-strong Rolly, Siony, and ultra-devastating Ulysses.

Now everybody weeps, hailing the prescience, if not the prophetic vision, of the dearly lamented Gina.

Even more precise was Lopez when she warned in Sept. 2017: “It is important that we rehabilitate this watershed because it is the first line of defense of Marikina, Quezon City, Antipolo, Pasig, Cainta, San Mateo, etc., against rainwater surging from the uplands of Luzon.”  

Furthering: “As long as there is quarrying there and the Marikina Watershed is denuded, the Pasig River water will be brown and it will become more and more shallow, and it will cause flooding in Metro Manila. It is imperative that the Marikina Watershed is reforested.” 

In remembering Lopez, let us not forget the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines which vehemently opposed Lopez’s appointment, thanking profusely the CA for rejecting her, hailing it as “the "beginning of a new chapter for the mining industry."

"We reiterate our commitment to work with the DENR and the next Secretary to protect the environment and promote the responsible use of our natural resources," the group of miners declared at that time.

New chapter indeed, ushering the Apocalypse.

So, who were the legislators that voted for the rejection of Lopez?

If only to appease the Furies, someone or some people have got to be lynched.

 

Finding St. Charles Borromeo in pandemic times

TODAY, Nov. 4 is the feast day of St. Charles Borromeo, cardinal-archbishop of Milan, who stayed put in place even as the secular authorities abandoned the principality upon the outbreak of the plague of 1576.

Charles organized the care of those stricken and ministered to the dying. It is said that he fed from 60,000 to 70,000 people daily using up his own funds, so much so that he went into debt.

We reflect on the response of the saint to the plague, in his own words:

To the faithful: A long time ago I resolved never to leave undone anything which might be for my people’s good. I beg you, above all, not to lose heart. Do not be affected by the example of those born and bred in the city who hurriedly abandoned it by flight at the very moment when it needed help…

The dreadful state of these wretched creatures, everything lacking both for soul and body. These unhappy children seem to look on me as the cause of all their ills. Their silence reproaches me for my idleness. I put off holding out a helping hand when by my example I should have moved others to pity. I will delay no longer. By the grace of God, I will do my duty to the utmost…

We have only one life and we should spend it for Jesus Christ and souls, not as we wish, but at the time and in the way God wishes. It would show presumption and neglect of our duty and God’s service to fail to do this.

To his priests: Do not be so forgetful of your priesthood as to prefer a late death to a holy one…

Take the plague of the soul in consideration more than the contagion of the body which, for many reasons, is less pernicious.

Do not neglect human means, such as preventatives, remedies, doctors, everything that you can use to keep off infection, for such means are in no way opposed to our doing our duty.

In God’s mercy: God can replace us…

From the beginning I resolved to place myself entirely in God’s hands, without however despising ordinary remedies…

Not by our prudence, which was caught asleep. Not by science of the doctors who could not discover the sources of the contagion, much less a cure. Not by the care of those in authority who abandoned the city. No, my dear children, but only by the mercy of God.

A testimonial

A Capuchin brother named James, who worked in the leper house where St. Charles went to almost daily to give the Sacraments to the suffering and the last rites to the dying, witnessed: “He often goes to the lazer [leper] house to console the sick… into huts and private houses to speak to the sick and comfort them, as well as providing for all their needs. He fears nothing. It is useless to try to frighten him. It is true that he exposes himself much to danger but so far he has been preserved by the special grace of God, he says he cannot do otherwise. Indeed, the city has no other help and consolation.”

(Culled from articles in the web)