Accents
Culture of impunity
Kill and go away with it! Hallelujah! Mission accomplished! That is the culture of impunity that has patently characterized the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. How many hired killers go unpunished? How many go scot-free? How many cases of murder rot in courts, awaiting resolution till kingdom come, till flesh and bones of the victims have joined the elements, till their loved ones continue to mourn in agony and have no more tears to shed? Our questions will continue for as long as the Maguindanao massacre remains unsolved.
Arriving from work yesterday evening, David, my son-in-law, said CNN reported killings in the Philippines. Still dizzy with the jetlag caused by the three-hour difference in time zone between California and South Carolina (flying from one daughter to another), we dismissed David’s news as one more Abu Sayyaf incident or maybe a rigged mall bombing as justification for one infamous Garci phone pal to declare Martial Law, consequently leading to no elections in 2010, thereby perpetuating herself in power. Away with not-so-crazy thoughts. Dinner was waiting, thence—with body, heart, and mind in full contentment—sleep the sleep of the just, so to speak.
The next day, Tuesday, Nov. 24, the news got more and more harrowing. I checked my email first thing in the morning, and one was sent by our friend Leeboy Garachico, coordinator of both ILAC (the Iloilo Legal Assistance Center) and NUPL-Iloilo (National Union of People’s Lawyers in Iloilo). Leeboy has forwarded the letter of Atty. Carlos Zarate, NUPL Secretary General. Brief but with ominous implications:
“Two UPLM [Union of People’s Lawyers-Mindanao] lawyers along with 40 people accompanying the Mangudadatus were abducted along the way to the Commission on Elections in the town of Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao.
“According to local media reports, around 9:30 in the morning, UPLM treasurer Concepcion Brizuela, and UPLM member Cynthia Joquindo of Kidapawan, were accompanying the Mangudadatus led by Jenalyn, wife of Esmael Mangudadatu, mayor of Buluan town; Buluan’s vice mayor and Esmael’s brother Eden while on their way to file certificate of candidacy at of the Commission on Elections. Twenty journalists were also abducted.
“Police are still unable to trace the perpetrators and whereabouts of the group.”
My husband Rudy immediately took deep interest being in the Board of Consultants of NUPL-Iloilo. We had the Internet running, checking the news in Philippine newspapers. The Philippines is thirteen hours ahead of the U.S., and what I would be writing about the incident is already history in the homeland.
Rudy mentioned about coming up with a strong manifesto condemning the Maguindanao massacre. The manifesto idea was still fresh in his mind when another email popped up, the NUPL-Iloilo PRESS STATEMENT. I would like to reprint it here if only to let all and sundry know that the lawyers won’t take this incident hands down. Two of their own, female lawyers who were themselves peace advocates and defenders of the weak and the oppressed, were mowed down in the prime of their life. Following is the NUPL-Iloilo statement in toto:
NUPL-Iloilo denounces Ampatuan massacre
The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers Iloilo chapter (NUPL-Iloilo) joins the kins,loved ones and concerned Filipinos in their grief and rage on the senseless and brutalmassacre of the innocent in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, much so because two of our compañeras, Atty. Connie Brizuela and Atty. Cynthia Oquendo were among the victims.
Heavily armed men at around 9:30 am, November 23, abducted at Brgy. Salman, Ampatuan and massacred members of the convoy to Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao where Genalyn Tiamzon Mangudadatu was to file the certificate of candidacy of her husband, Buluan town vice mayor Ishmael Mangudadatu.
We call on the government, particularly, its security forces in Maguindanao to bring the perpetrators of that revolting crime to justice.
The senseless loss of lives could also be blamed on the government. The massacre was perpetrated by followers of a suspected warlord which is allied with the ruling Lakas-KMPI-CMD of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
The boldness of the perpetrators in carrying out the carnage is but an offshoot of the Arroyo administrations strategy of nurturing the culture of impunity since 2001.
The killings of activists which reached 1,000 since 2001 and of journalists, 56 minus the recent 12 casualties, in the same period, happened because of the culture of impunity that the Arroyo administration fosters.
We call on the government to investigate local security forces for their seeming inaction to protect the Mangudadatus before and after the bloody incident. The Mangudadatu who seeks the gubernatorial post of Maguindanao had sought PNP and Army for personnel to escort the convoy to the provincial capital but was turned down.
The murderers did not even consider that the persons whose lives they ruthlessly snuffed out were women, journalists and lawyers. At least 12 of the fatalities were journalists as confirmed by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).
Two of the victims are legal counsel of the gubernatorial candidate, namely: Attys. Connie Brizuela and Cynthia Oquendo, both members of the Union of People’s Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM) and also of the NUPL.
Not even Iraq nor Afghanistan could equal the senselessness of murdering such number of journalists and lawyers in a single incident.
The casualties could hit over 50 as the search for the bodies of other victims continues. Some were buried in scattered places with the use of the backhoe of the Maguindanao provincial government.
We condole with the survivors, their kins and loved ones of the massacre.
(Sgd.) Atty. Joshua Alim
President, NUPL-Iloilo
Aquiles Zonio of Inquirer Mindanao recounts how a refueling and digression in his route saved him from the fate of his fellow journalists. To give wider publicity to those whose lives were sacrificed in the sacred altar of press freedom, let me reiterate Zonio’s report:
Out of the 34 journalists abducted and brutally killed, only 25 were identified. They were Ian Subang, Leah Dalmacio, Gina Dela Cruz and Maritess Cablitas, all of Mindanao Focus, a General Santos City-based weekly community newspaper; Bart Maravilla of Bombo Radyo-Koronadal City; Jhoy Duhay of Mindanao Goldstar Daily; Henry Araneta of DZRH and Andy Teodoro of Central Mindanao Inquirer. Neneng Montano of Saksi weekly newspaper; Alejandro “Bong” Reblando of Manila Bulletin; Victor Nuñez of UnTv; Macmac Arriola, UnTV cameraman; and Jimmy Cabillo, a radioman based in Koronadal City. Rey Merisco, Ronnie Perante, Jun Legarta, Val Cachuela and Humberto Mumay, all Koronadal City-based journalists. Joel Parcon, Noel Decena, John Caniba, Art Belia, Ranie Razon and Nap Salaysay.
Journalists are becoming endangered species in the Philippines. Mostly underpaid compared to employees in other professions, they pursue their jobs with zest, tenacity and valor. They know the importance of their work—for how else are they called the Fourth Estate. Yes, after the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary branches of government, there is the Fourth Estate to dig at the truth and check the functions/malfunctions of the three branches—to insure that ours is a government of, by, and for the people. When all else fail, the Fourth Estate is the people’s last resort.
The perpetrators of the Maguindanao massacre must get their just desert—no exceptions, no mercy, no political considerations—if only to show that the culture of impunity in the Arroyo administration has stopped. Let justice be done though the heavens fall!
(Email: lagoc@hargray.com)
