This is a re-posted op-ed piece.
The world marks today the first International Day to End Impunity, and the focus of attention is the Philippines. Up to 146 media members have been killed in the country in connection with their work since democracy was restored in 1986. More than 30 of the victims died in one incident alone, and some quarters have warned that the wait for justice could take 200 years. This can be avoided through sustained pressure for justice and a refusal to forget the 57 people – others count 58, with one still unaccounted for – who were massacred in Maguindanao two years ago today.
Even in a nation inured to political violence and notorious for its short memory, the horrific images of the massacre are hard to forget. From Nov. 23 and in the next few days in 2009, the nation was mesmerized by the sight of body after body being pulled out of that bucolic hilltop in Sitio Masalay in Ampatuan town. The victims were buried hurriedly with a backhoe inside or in between their flattened vehicles.
That was pure evil, and so far, none of those principally accused of involvement has shown remorse. This makes that 200-year litigation probable. Of 196 suspects indicted, only 93 are in detention and facing trial. As of last Oct. 10, only 55 of the 620 witnesses had testified in court.
One positive aspect, two years into the tortuous litigation, is that the principal defendants, all surnamed Ampatuan, remain in custody, with one of them offering to testify against his own kin. But the defendants who remain at large – all 103 of them, plus several more who have not yet been indicted – can still stir up trouble in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The ARMM remains one of the nation’s poorest, and bad governance has to be one of the principal culprits. The region has been run by a succession of local executives like a personal fiefdom.
In remembering the atrocity that caused the Ampatuans’ downfall, the nation must resolve to prevent a repeat of the massacre. The government must eliminate the factors that contributed to the murderers’ belief that they could get away with such a heinous crime. Private armies must be dismantled. Every murder must be solved, with the perpetrators – the one who pulled the trigger, the one who ordered it, and anyone who tried to cover it up – being convicted and sent to prison. Unless this happens, impunity will persist, and there will be more killings.
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Source: The Philippine Star, Editorial, Nov. 23, 2011
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