Gov’t assures journalists’ groups of Maguindanao massacre resolution
The government Monday assured journalists groups, both in the country and abroad, that it is doing everything to bring the perpetrators of the Maguindanao massacre before the bar of justice at the earliest possible time.
“Even as we speak now, soldiers and policemen are conducting house-to-house searches,” said Press Secretary Cerge Remonde in a hastily called media briefing. “Guns are being confiscated, arrests are being made, and cases are being filed.”
The press secretary made the disclosure in the presence of Benny Antiporda, president of the National Press Club, and Anbalagan Veerasamy, secretary-general of the Malaysia-based Confederation of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Journalists.
Remonde had just come from Chino Roces Avenue, near Malacanang Palace, where he met practicing journalists who were holding an indignation rally over the killing of 57 people, 30 of them members of different media organizations in the country.
In the rally, apart from Antiporda and Veersamy and their respective members, were Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and Gabriela Rep. Liza Masa, as well as members of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, National Union of Peoples Lawyers, and College Editors Guild of the Philippines.
The slain journalists were in the company of the wife and relatives and supporters of Vice Mayor Ishmael Mangundadatu when the group was waylaid, herded to a pre-dug grave, and executed.
Quoting from a press statement issued by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Remonde said the murders should serve to prompt the nation “to rededicate itself to the freedom of the press and the freedom of political expression.”
The press statement reads in part:
“We must all join hands to strengthen our resolve that never again will rogue political leaders take the law into their hands and violate the law of the nation and the laws of God.”
According to Remonde, President Arroyo is one with local and foreign journalists and the rest of the world “in condemning this barbaric act.”
As proof of the government’s resolve, Remonde pointed out, the primary suspect in the massacre is already behind bars. (PNA)
