November 23 - 29, 2009: When Hell Broke Loose

Note: I am foregoing my weekly journal and would dedicate this week's post to the Maguindanao massacre victims. I would like to be invisible momentarily because anything about my life this week pale so miserably in comparison to the carnage that took the lives of 57 (as of the last account and investigators suspect there could be more) innocent civilians who were out to carry out what they ought to do in the normal course of life on that fateful Monday. Still, I like this post to be part of my weekly journal because it is one of those things which shook me to the core that will forever be etched in my memory. The pictures in the dailies, blogs, and TV speak for themselves. I could hardly look at these pictures without cringing that I decided to just use symbolic photos that bespeak of what we all desire...... justice! I decry the barbarism borne out of greed and lust for power and money. I hope that justice is carried out swiftly and blindly for the victims and the families and loved ones left behind and that the perpetuators will be meted their punishment.

A friend's FB wall read, "Euphoria doused too soon...." After Pacquiao's succesful bid for the WBO welterweight crown and Efren Peñaflorida's win in CNN Hero of the Year, the very first day of the week proved fateful for 57 people, mostly women, who were waylaid, tortured, raped, and brutalized before being murdered. I am shaking and moved to tears writing this post imagining the horror of the people who must have felt that death is in their midst.

Everyone were still in a celebratory mood with Peñaflorida's winning an international hero's award making us hopeful as a Filipino capable of rising above our weakness, overturning life's odds, making a difference, and inspiring others to follow the example. The CNN award is the icing on the cake........ In this atmosphere, we would all be greeted with the news of the massacre that came as a surprise ...........like being doused with cold water to wake up from a pleasant dream to face a nightmare in one instant sweep..... Maybe, we all needed to slap ourselves to believe that what we heard, unbelievable as it sounds, actually happened. Peñaflorida's three seconds have been abruptly cut.... His arrival on Thursday could have been made more fitting for a deserving hero except that Pinoys are now focused a real life horror.

Investigator began digging a grassy area in Barangay Salman, Ampatuan town with the backhoe bearing the name of Governor Ampatuan Sr. used in digging the mass grave still at the site. In the next few days, 57 bodies were recovered. Recently, the search for a 58th body was proposed with the discovery of a partial upper left denture with a metal clasp at the crime scene that did not fit any of the remains already recovered by an independent forensic team led by Peruvian forensic anthropologist Dr. Jose Pablo Baraybar.

Even for a country long hardened to election violence, the massacre of at least 57 defenseless civilians on the main southern island of Mindanao, many of them relatives and supporters of a local politician and a large group of journalists, sets a new low. This troubled corner of the Philippines usually makes headlines for its long-running Muslim separatist rebellion. But the killings starkly exposed a nationwide malaise: the fierce competition for regional power among the country's small Élite of a few hundred families and clans that control an inordinate amount of the national wealth - and the desperate lengths some will go to protect their hold on power. (Alastair Mcindoe, Time)

On Thursday, Philippine flags were flown at half-mast as we mourn for the massacre victims. Suspect Mayor Andal Ampatuan was brought to Manila by a team of DOJ and NBI officials who accompanied the mayor on his way to the NBI headquarters from Villamor airbase in Pasay City. He was to be the Ampatuan's sacrificial lamb even as he maintains his innocence up to this day.......

Eyewitness began surfacing....... Two civilian volunteers who allegedly took part in the grisly killings have confirmed the presence of Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. at the massacre site on November 23. Police are grooming some people to be state witnesses to pursue murder charges against the perpetrators of the grisly massacre in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao .

Three journalists were saved by a twist of fate when they decided to return to their hotel upon the insistence of one of them who said he forgot something at their hotel. In reality, he was having doubts about their safety as he thought about how the Mangudadatu camp's request for police escorts for the convoy was turned down. One had a premonition and decided not to go. He was thanking a fellow mediaperson for warning him which he heeded.....

As it turned out, none of their colleagues returned alive. The three reporters would later find out that almost the entire convoy including their media colleagues, were stopped by about a hundred armed men, and then brutally slaughtered like animals by the roadside. These three survivors lived to tell their story.

As of presstime, Ampatuan Jr. has been charged with murder and remains in the custody of the NBI.

As all of this drama was unfolding, there were questions hanging at the back of the minds of almost everyone. Why is the government too cautious in pursuing this case? There were oevrwhelming evidence but the military were being very careful about tagging the Ampatuans as suspects clarifying they are possible suspect not principal suspects. Government investigators issued official statement left and right saying they were still gathering enough evidence.

What more evidence do they need? There were eyewitness acount of the massacre. There was the the backhow bearing the name of the patriarch of the Ampatuans. There was the phone call of the wife of Vice Mayor Mangudadatu which can already be considered the testimony of someone who feel they are about to die (of course, there is doubt about the statement of a relative of one of the victim but the authorities can verify that statement if they wanted to.) There is the grieving husband who set aside his Muslim tradition to let due process of the law take its course.

Besides, who else would have the motive?

It is not just ineptitude.... There's also the angle of a cover-up because the military is tagged as being part of the armed group which carried out the horrific crime. Many see a cover-up by this administration because of political payback they have to give to a bankable ally who could deliver the votes in that part.

Up to now, the massacre is still being talked about as it is unprecedented in its brutality and brazeness. I am outraged as I cannot fathom how a human is capable of doing this demonic act to a fellow human being, much more to 57 people. I am amazed at how the Ampatuans treat all of us like morons who can't see though their dastardly acts.

Thank God for this media that we can somehow express out indignation instead of building up the seething anger within us that could translate to more violent outbursts. As I cry for justice, i hope that the rest of the Maguindanaoans caught in the crossfire of warring political families will be spared from further harm. They have already suffered so much as a result of patronage politics that produce these warloads whose bloated ego make them feel like they own their territory and that their subjects are beholden to them. In the light of this latest caper, I hope that the, once and for all, government will act swiftly and decisively in dismantling militias and private armies.



If you, like most Filipinos, are indignant about the slow wheel of justice on the Maguindanao massacre, please sign the petition letter to President Arroyo by following the link below.
An Open Letter to Mdm Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President of the Philippines

Update:

Apart from Andal Jr. also known as "Datu Unsay," five more members of the powerful and Arroyo-allied Ampatuan clan - including its patriarch Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., a mayor and a vice-mayor - have been recommended by the Philippine National Police Wednesday to be charged for murder in connection with the massacre of at least 57 people in Maguindanao province last week.

Six other people were also included in the list of those recommended to face murder charges by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG).

Apart from Andal Jr., who has already been charged with multiple murder, recommended to face similar charges are:

1. Andal Ampatuan Sr., governor of Maguindanao province;

2. Datu Ulo Ampatuan, earlier identified as grandson of Andal Sr.;

3. Bahnarin Ampatuan, mayor of Mamasapano town, Maguindanao;

4. Datu Kanor Ampatuan, vice mayor of Salibo town, Maguindanao;

5. Toni Kenis Ampatuan, police auxiliary of the municipal police stations (MPS) in Shariff Aguak and Datu Unsay towns;

6. Muhamad Sangki, municipal councilor of Datu Abdullah Sangki town, Maguindanao;

7. Tammy Masukat, earlier identified as the commander of the Civilian Volunteer Organization (CVO) in Maguindanao;

8. Tumi Timba Abas, police auxiliary of the MPS in Shariff Aguak and Datu Unsay towns;
9. PO1 Abbey Guiadem, officer in charge of the Datu Unsay MPS;

10. one identified only as Commander Beri, a CVO member of Datu Unsay MPS; and

11. one identified only as Dahutay, a member of the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) assigned at Sitio Binibiran, Matagabong, Ampatuan town.

Also mentioned as respondents are "one hundred other John and Peter Does."

Still, we must remain vigilant. This country has seen so much injustice right under our noses carried out in the guise of due process. Soon, we would all be back to our normal routine and I am afraid that this carnage will be one of those things that can be easily be swept under the rug.....

Related Posts:
Savage
Savage II
Why the Philippines' Maguindanao Massacre Happened
Maguindanao Massacre: God Is Watching
Wanted urgently: another backhoe to dig up the 58th missing massacre victim in Ampatuan, Maguindanao