Journalists: Maguindanao massacre makes RP a ‘candidate for a failed democracy’

MANILA - Various groups since Monday have been at a loss for the words that would most strongly express their condemnation of the Maguindanao massacre.

How else would one denounce the kidnapping and killing of 46 civilians (as of last count)—including women, journalists, and lawyers—just because they were registering the candidacy of Ishmael Mangudadatu, who was daring to go against the most powerful family in the province, the Ampatuans?

An “abominable sin” was how the Catholic Church, through Davao City Archbishop Fernando Capalla, branded the incident. It "mocks our humble but painstaking efforts to build harmony and understanding in Mindanao"

It was “savagery” that, Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chair Leila de Lima warned, could just break out into more violence “if there [will be] no swift intervention” from the authorities. “The Mangudadatus are also a powerful clan and this incident, if left unresolved, could very well develop into more bloodshed between the Ampatuans and the Mangudadatus.”

Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. is being accused by various camps to be behind the killing. He is on his last term as governor and one of his mayor-sons, Andal Jr., is said to be positioning as his successor. Thus, the unwelcome challenge from Mangudadatu, their erstwhile ally until after the 2007 elections.

The different sectors that condemned the massacre all acknowledged that President Arroyo’s administration bred this “culture of impunity,” given its track record of being “tolerant or approving of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and other human rights violations.”

Particularly, critics said, Ms. Arroyo allowed the Ampatuans to further entrenched themselves in Maguindanao after the clan delivered for her in the 2004 presidential elections.

The long-term casualty, the critics said: the fundamental freedom of citizens.

Unchecked warlords

The human rights group Amnesty International (AI) said that “these killings underline the danger facing civilians in the run up to the national elections.”

The massacre is considered by groups as the worst of violence in relation to the 2010 polls. It was also the biggest number of journalists kidnapped and killed in a single incident anywhere in the world, according to the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

Local labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno saw this “as a warning to candidates who are pushing for change—including and especially progressive candidates and party-lists—about what’s in store in the coming months in the run-up to the May 2010 elections.”

Initiatives for Peace in Mindanao (InPeace) said, “The unchecked rule of political warlords like the Ampatuans, army and police units like those controlled by President Arroyo’s mistahs, and warmongers in government like General Hermogenes Esperon and National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, make up a culture of tolerance for killings and contempt for the rule of law.”

Caution

The Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao commended the “journalists and lawyers, who have been in the line of fire because of their commitment to their respective profession,” but are sad that these people “will be added to the long list of victims of extra-judicial killings under the present administration.”

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said that “the incident does not only erase all doubts about the Philippines being the most dangerous country for journalists in the world, outside of Iraq, it could very well place the country on the map as a candidate for a failed democracy.”

Various groups called for the Arroyo government to “apprehend and punish everyone involved in this gruesome assault on the national body politic, including the masterminds, regardless of who they might be.”

Maguindanao and its neighboring province Sultan Kudarat have been placed under a state of emergency, a move being opposed by KAWAGIB-Alliance for the Advancement of Moro Human Rights. The group said the situation in Maguindanao will only worsen if all groups in Maguindanao will be disarmed. “We caution that such declaration may be used against legitimate armed groups and the issue will be diverted.” (Newsbreak)