Not forgotten

IT HAS been four years since the massacre of 58 individuals (32 of whom were journalists) happened in Ampatuan, Maguindanao province in Mindanao. Yet, justice still has not been served.
Quezon City Rep. Jose Christopher Belmonte has filed a resolution which seeks to direct executive agencies to accomplish two things: “speed up the prosecution and instruct law enforcement bodies to capture other suspects and to protect the remaining witnesses,” reports Inquirer.net.
According to Belmonte, the Department of Justice (DOJ), along with law enforcement agencies, need to work on a list of all media killings and the status of corresponding cases, and on identifying actions that need to be done, in order to speed up the judicial process.
Adding to this, Belmonte suggested that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) provide “adequate assistance to the victims’ families.”
There also exists “ a growing rift between private and government prosecutors,” which Secretary General of Justice Now Movement Grace Morales believes has caused “a deteriorating working relationship between private and public prosecutors, could further slow down the trial,” Inquirer.net further reported.
“We are getting worried that justice may not be obtained. DOJ prosecutors play a vital role in our pursuit of justice,” said Morales, speaking on behalf of the victims’ relatives.
Only 104 out of 195 accused have been indicted, including 8 members of the Ampatuan clan, who have been accused of masterminding the massacre, Belmonte further said in his resolution.
“Thus far, the multiple murder charges against the accused remain tied up in petitions for bail, countless motions and countermotions, and tactics deliberately intended to stall the proceedings,”  said Belmonte.
Apart from this, three important witnesses have also been killed, while the families of the victims are being coerced to agree to a settlement. Belmonte also added that members of the media (especially in the provinces) continue to be threatened or murdered.
“The majority of the media killings in the country and the failure to convict a single mastermind in the Ampatuan massacre is the offshoot of a system of governance that has allowed warlords and corrupt politicians to thrive in our regions and provinces in exchange for their support, thus perpetuating the impunity with which press freedom, and human rights as a whole, continue to be attacked,” he said.
However, National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) Davao Chair Jessie Calsada hopes that the slow wheels of justice would inspire, instead of discourage Filipinos to fight against impunity.
“If we stop, we can never find justice for the victims,” he said.
According to a report from Sunstar.com.ph, cause-oriented groups across the nation have set a four-day series of activities (from November 19-23) to commemorate the death of these 58 individuals in the Maguindanao Massacre.
“Human chain” activities were held in Rajah Sulayman Park in Manila and in the cities of Baguio, Angeles, Bacolod and Cagayan de Oro.
In Ampatuan, Maguindanao, nearly 60 media workers and relatives of the massacre victims visited the massacre site on November 21, “to retrace the events that took place during the incident,” reports MindaNews.com.
It may have been four years since the gruesome incident, but the pain lingers and the thirst for justice remains unquenched.
These 58 individuals ,who unjustly lost their lives in the Maguindanao Massacre, will NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.
(AJPress)