MANILA – Senators Manuel "Mar" Roxas II and Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III on Wednesday asked the Senate to order an investigation into the gruesome killing of 50 people in Maguindanao province.

“The Senate condemns in the strongest possible terms the brutal and inhuman election-related massacre and carnage of innocent civilians in Maguindanao Province... and likewise directs the appropriate Senate committees to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, into this unparalleled and gruesome incident,” the two-page resolution read.

The two senators said the inquiry aims to propose “legislative measures that would effectively promote lasting peace and prosperity in Mindanao.”

The resolution was moved by the bloodiest election-related killing in Maguindanao. Authorities have recovered 50 bodies from a burial site in Ampatuan town, where a six-vehicle convoy of the Mangudadatu political clan and media people were ambushed.

The fatalities include the wife and relatives of Buluan town's vice-mayor Ismael “Toto” Mangudadatu.

The group was on their way to file the certificate of candidacy (COC) on behalf of the vice-mayor at the provincial office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Sharif Aguak town Monday morning.

They were reportedly halted by about 100 armed men at the boundary of Sharif Aguak and Ampatuan towns. Several media members who joined the Mangudadatu convoy were also killed.

Condemned worldwide

The Senate resolution also lamented that the Maguindanao massacre has tainted the country’s reputation.

“Such an act of cruelty is a crime against the very idea of humanity, transcending geographic boundaries and further soiling the reputation of the country in the international community,” it stated.

“This unparalleled and atrocious election-related violence is not only an indignation and outrage against the democratic ideals and institutions of our country, but also against the very freedom and human dignity of the Filipino people, certainly deserving of our strongest condemnation.”

Reporters Without Borders, Amnesty International, and the European Union have also denounced the killings.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), meantime, described the carnage as the “worst loss of life in one day in the history of journalism.” At least 12 media members have been reported dead.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) likewise decried the massacre. “It’s a bestial act of the highest order” CHR Chairperson Leila de Lima said in a radio dzMM interview.

“It will place the Philippines on the map for the highest record, statistics of media killings and extralegal killings. This is definitely under the category of extra legal or extrajudicial killings,” de Lima added.
 
The Church and several labor groups also condemned the massacre.