Kin hope for justice on 8th year since Maguindanao massacre

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Families of the 58 victims of the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre on Thursday urged authorities to arrest suspects in the killings still at large.

 

Local officials, representatives from the police, the military and relatives of the victims commemorated on Thursday the eighth year since the massacre at Sitio Salman in Barangay Masalay in Ampatuan municipality.

 

Among the elusive massacre suspects still unaccounted for are two grandsons of former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan, Sr. The former governor was tagged by witnesses as the mastermind of the massacre, the country’s worst election-related violence.

 

Senior members of the Ampatuan clan, among them Zaldy, former regional governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and his younger sibling, Datu Andal, Jr., have been detained since December 2009 over their alleged involvement in the killings.

 

The killings are sometimes referred to as the Ampatuan massacre.

 

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, who lost his wife in the incident, said he is optimistic President Rodrigo Duterte will focus on the arrest of all massacre suspects still at large.

 

Mangudadatu led Thursday’s commemoration of the massacre.

 

“It’s been eight years now and we still cannot see even just a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel. President Duterte is powerful, the most powerful man in the country and we know he can help,” said the 87-year-old Marino Ridao, a retired math professor.

 

Ridao, who also served as member of the Cotabato City council, lost a son in the massacre.

 

“I want to see a judicial closure to this case while I am still alive,” Ridao said.

 

Mangudadatu said he wants justice for his wife and two sisters and all other victims of the massacre before his last term as governor ends in 2019.

 

READ: Justice remains elusive for Maguindanao massacre victims

 

The 58 massacre victims — among them 32 journalists — were in a convoy to the provincial capitol in Shariff Aguak to deliver Mangudadatu’s certificate of candidacy for governor for the May 2010 elections when when members of the Ampatuan clan flagged them down.

 

The suspects, backed by their private militia, allegedly herded them to a hilly area in Barangay Masalay where they were killed with machineguns and assault rifles.

 

There are now more than 200 witnesses helping prosecute at least 190 suspects in the massacre.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines on Thursday noted that justice in the case still remains elusive.

 

"It should not have been to farfetched to hope—even expect—that an outrage of such magnitude would have shamed government into ensuring justice was swift and that such killings ended or, at least, substantially reduced. It was, sadly, too much to hope for. Eight years hence, justice remains as elusive as it was on November 23, 2009," NUJP said in a statement.

 

NUJP has been lighting candles to mark the months since the massacre.

 

"We have been informed that with only three more principal accused in the massacre trial still to present their witnesses, it would be reasonable to hope for a resolution by next year. We do hope so and pray it will be a triumph for justice. However, the numbers do not offer too much reason for optimism," it said.

 

The journalists' union noted that only 115 of 198 suspects have been arrested and 112 arraigned. Of those who were arraigned, 70 were allowed to post bail, including 17 police officers implicated in the case.