Bikers commemorate Maguindanao massacre

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines – About a hundred bikers, among them military and police officials, pedaled on Sunday through the scene of the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao Massacre to show solidarity with families of the 58 people that perished in the incident.

The bikers were led by Assemblyman Khadafy Mangudadatu of the 24-seat Regional Assembly in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Major Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, who is commander of the Army's 6th Infantry Division, Senior Supt. Rudelio Jocson of the provincial police, and Vice Mayor Jhazzer Mangudadatu of Buluan town in Maguindanao.

Pangilinan’s four subordinate-brigade commanders also joined in the “bike for unity and justice,” launched after sunrise on Sunday during the commemoration of the 5th anniversary of the massacre.

The bikers started their biking tour at Maguindanao's Datu Saudi town, about 10 kilometers northeast of the massacre site in Salman District in Ampatuan municipality.

“This is our way of showing we are for the complete resolution of the Maguindanao case and that we are for the unity of the Muslims, Christians and lumad communities in the province,” Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan and other bikers first passed through secluded stretches of the Cotabato-Gen. Santos Highway, traversing hinterlands that were once scenes of deadly encounters between government forces and guerillas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, before biking their way through the massacre site.

“This biking activity is also meant to show to people in other parts of Mindanao, in the Visayas, in Metro Manila and Luzon, that the government-MILF peace process is in its right tract and that the business atmosphere in Maguindanao is now improving because of it,” Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan said he is thankful to the Mangudadatu clan for not resorting to retaliations after several family members got killed in the massacre five years ago that shook the country to its core.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu lost a wife, Genalyn, in the carnage, the country’s worst ever election-related violence.

“People in Maguindanao now appreciate the sensibility of seeking redress through the judiciary. Had the Mangudadatus resorted to retaliations, Maguindanao’s security climate would have become bad,” Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan said the 6th ID is elated with the continuing influx in the province now of foreign capitalists investing on Cavendish banana and oil palm plantation projects.