Tag Archives: Maguindanao massacre

[In the Web] Tougher action needed to end impunity in journalist killings

Posted on by dars0357

Tougher action needed to end impunity in journalist killings. Photo from nationmultimedia.com

By Gayathry Venkiteswaran

Southeast Asia has unfortunately earned a reputation for not being a safe place for journalists.

 

The threats? Take any number. They range from imprisonment for crimes under outdated libel and slander laws, detention without trial, violence against media personnel, and impunity in the killing of journalists.

It is no coincidence that journalists who face risks are those whose stories have exposed weaknesses in governance structures, lopsided distribution of resources, and the absence of accountability and transparency. These weaknesses affect the ability of citizens to enjoy all other fundamental rights, such as rights to life, housing, public health, education and livelihood, among others.

Typical advice given to journalists is that there is no story worth risking one’s life for. But lives have been lost in the course of journalists doing their jobs. Only a small portion of murder cases have seen the light of day in the courts because of the extent to which the culture of impunity has taken root.

Impunity is when the perpetrators of killings – be they of journalists or human rights activists or lawyers – are not investigated or brought to justice. That violence and impunity are staking a claim in peaceful democracies should make us jump out of our seats and stop them in their tracks here and now. It’s a zero-sum game: every unpunished crime means a win for the killer, often representing powerful individuals or the state or businesses; and zero for the public, which is deprived of its right to information.

The cold-blooded murder of Marlene Esperat in the Philippines in 2005 is a case in point. As a member of the local Ombudsman’s Office and then as a journalist, Esperat was persistent in her fight against corruption, and obviously came too close to the truth. Esperat, who had worked with the Department of Agriculture in Central Mindanao, the Philippines, went into journalism and wrote for the local Midland’s Review, and had exposed a fertiliser scam and other wrongdoings involving the Agriculture Department. She was killed in front of her children while having dinner at home on March 24, 2005. The suspects in the murder admitted that they were hired to kill her. The price for the kill was US$3,000.

After six years and back-and-forth courtroom haggling, finally the masterminds in Esperat’s case will face trial. It’s still a long way away from closure for her family, but a step in the right direction nevertheless.

Yet one of the darkest days in the history of the media was the brutal massacre of 58 people, including 32 media workers, in Maguindanao province in the southern Philippines – who were on their way to register a candidacy for an election – by the paramilitary thugs of the politically entrenched Ampatuan clan. To date, close to two years after the worst incident of extrajudicial killing in the Philippines’ history, 196 people have been charged. Out of these, only 93, including several members of the Ampatuan family, are currently detained, and 64 on trial. The court case has been marred by delays, the deaths of witnesses, alleged bribes and threats to the plaintiffs in a bid to have them drop their charges.

That incident, on November 23, 2009, has forced not only Filipinos, but the international community, to see the extent to which we have collectively sanctioned crimes against the media. The affects on families and societies linger for years after the crimes have occurred, and serve to entrench the culture of fear.

But the Philippines is not the only country with the problem of impunity. The conditions that lead to impunity – widespread corruption, a weak judiciary, poorly developed enforcement agencies, and weak legal frameworks – exist throughout the region.

 

Read full article at http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Tougher-action-needed-to-end-impunity-in-journalis-30170427.html

Related articles

[In the Web] Senate declares November 23 as National Day to End Impunity

Posted on by dars0357

November 23 is a day of action on the unsolved murders of journalists, and to raise awareness to end impunity. Photo from http://www.i-m-s.dk/

Written by Cocoy*

The Philippine Senate passed resolution 642 declaring every 23rd of November as a National Day to End Impunity.

November 23 is the anniversary of the Maguindanao Massacre that saw 58 people being killed. The resolution recognizes that two years since the November 23, 2009 Ampatuan massacre where 58 lives, including that of 32 media workers, were lost in what was the worst single instance of electoral violence in the country’s recent history and the deadliest single attack on the press ever and the worst manifestation of the plague of extrajudicial killings, has claimed the lives of hundreds of people – media workers, judges, lawyers, religious activists – whose only involvement was to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right to free expression.

The resolution also recognizes the failure to solve all but a pitiful handful of these murder cases and to enforce existing laws intended to protect and promote human rights has bred a culture of impunity that has emboldened those who would curtail free expression and tehrefore the government should vow to bring justice and ensure good governance by taking measures to facilitate the expeditious disposal of unsolved cases of extrajudicial killings;

Acccording to Senator Kiko Pangilinan who issued a statement upon filing of the resolution, “It’s been two years since the gruesome event and still our countrymen cry out for justice for the victims of the Maguindanao massacre. It was the worst single instance of electoral violence in our country’s history and the deadliest affront against freedom of the press. It gave us international notoriety as one of the most dangerous places for journalists. We must never forget that day when the culture of impunity showed us its worst manifestation.“

 

Read full article at http://propinoy.net/2011/11/23/senate-declares-november-23-as-national-day-to-end-impunity/

 

*Cocoy is an Internet entrepreneur, technologyenthusiast, political junkie and social observer who enjoys a good cup of coffee, comic books, and tweets as @cocoy on twitter. He publishesThe Multiverse, a weblog that covers pop culture, as well as Lab Rats that talks about Apple, Social Media and Technology. Cocoy is also theManaging Director and Editor-in-Chief of the ProPinoy Project. He regularly contributes political commentary at BlogWatch.ph, and writes about the technology sector for the Philippine Online Chronicles.

Related articles

[Video] INTERNATIONAL DAY TO END IMPUNITY – youtube

Posted on by dars0357

The International Day to End Impunity is a call to action to demand justice for those who have been killed for exercising their right to freedom of expression and shed light on the issue of impunity.

http://www.facebook.com/International.Day.to.End.Impunity
http://www.daytoendimpunity.org

Related articles

[In the Web] Glacial pace of Maguindanao Massacre trial

Posted on by dars0357

Justice for Victims of Ampatuan Massacre. Image from http://newscoreonline.blogspot.com.

Big Deal

by Dan Mariano

Up until the last three years of her presidency, Gloria M. Arroyo was able to “manage” her relations with the media. Some journalists were perhaps impressed with her administration’s economic performance and genuinely wished it success; others were placated with the usual accommodations and sinecures that government officials have long plied press-card holders in this country.
The relations began to sour, however, following the 2005 “Hello, Garci” scandal and the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege when dozens of journalists were flex-cuffed by police just because they were covering the incident.

In addition, the flurry of libel suits filed by GMA administration figures—including then-first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and then-GSIS boss Winston Garcia—against reporters, editors, publishers, commentators and columnists further convinced the Fourth Estate that Mrs. Arroyo and her underlings despised the free media and would like nothing better than to silence critics in newspapers, TV, radio and the Internet.

Few, however, suspected that some quarters close to her had planned to silence pesky journalists literally, permanently and in such devastating fashion.

As hostile and contemptuous as GMA was toward the news media, even her most rabid detractors could not imagine that the massacre of 58 people—mostly media workers—in Maguindanao could ever take place in this country. But the alleged butchers were led by a political warlord whom she had relied on to manipulate election results.

Were it not for their political partnership with GMA, would the Ampatuans have been so emboldened as to even contemplate such an atrocity—and believe that they could get away with?

There were signs that soon after word of the November 23, 2009 killings reached Manila the then-president had tried to shield the Ampatuans. When it became obvious that a cover-up had become impossible, the GMA administration dragged its feet in prosecuting the alleged killers—so much so that to this day the case is still pending.

The case is being heard by a supposedly special court that continues to operate in the usual snail’s pace of ordinary tribunals. The Supreme Court is still under the sway of GMA appointees who apparently regard her with fondness—or more.

No wonder then that the leadership of the judiciary seems perfectly willing to let the so-called special court to just muddle along in the face of the widespread outrage, both here and abroad, that the Maguindanao massacre drew.

Court rules
The cadence of the court case has been so glacial that legal experts, like former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr., see the trial dragging on for another year or two—“unless a miracle happens.”

In a recent statement coursed through the Pimentel Center for Local Governance, Nene noted: “As of last week, the prosecution and the defense panels were reportedly squabbling over the number of days every week that should be set aside for the trial of the case.”

The trial judge had reportedly set two days a week for the hearing of the case. A defense lawyer suggested that one more day be added to the weekly trial dates. “Surprisingly, a prosecutor reportedly retorted that another day would be unacceptable because she had other cases to attend to,” Pimentel said.

Pimentel observed that “the speedy justice that the Bill of Rights of the Constitution guarantees to litigants, especially, in criminal cases is being cast aside for the comfort and convenience of the legal panels.”

He clarified, however: “By no means is the judge handling the case being blamed for the delays in the trial of the case. From afar, it looks like the judge, who is a lady, is evenhanded.”

The traditionally laidback dispensation of justice in this country has marked even the Ampatuan trial, giving rise to suggestions for the adoption of a jury system.

Read more at http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/opinion/columnist1/11851-glacial-pace-of-maguindanao-massacre-trial
Related articles

[In the Web] Philippine massacre victims’ kin sue ex-president

Posted on by dars0357

Families of the Victims of the Maguindanao Massacre still crying for justice. Photo from http://politicalwatchuntv.wordpress.com.

 

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Relatives of 57 people massacred in the Philippines’ worst political violence sued former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday, claiming she could have prevented the killings.

At least two Arroyo allies, including a former governor of an autonomous Muslim region, are among about 100 suspects being tried on murder charges in the massacre that occurred two years ago Wednesday. The dead included 32 media workers, making it the worst single killing of journalists in the world.

Arroyo was arrested last week on charges that she ordered the former governor, Andal Ampatuan Sr., and another official to commit election fraud two years before the massacre. Arroyo has condemned and denied any knowledge of the killings, but lawyer Harry Roque said she should have known that Ampatuan and his son were a danger.

Roque filed the lawsuit Tuesday, seeking 15 million pesos ($346,000) in damages. In court documents, he argued that Arroyo turned a blind eye to a decade of human rights abuses in the region and “instead she cultivated ties with the Ampatuans, who would prove indispensable to her continued hold on political power.”

Reporters, drivers and assistants were accompanying family and supporters of the Ampatuans’ political rival en route to file for candidacy in regional elections when gunmen allegedly led by former town mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. stopped them and led them to a hilltop clearing where they were mowed down and hastily buried in mass graves.

Relatives and colleagues of the journalists who died visited the massacre site Tuesday, the eve of the killings’ second anniversary. They offered prayers and 58 white lilies and lighted candles. A Catholic priest celebrated Mass at the mound where concrete markers bearing the names of dead were erected.

Reynafe Momay-Castillo, daughter of journalist Reynaldo Momay — the 58th victim whose body has not yet been found — could not hold back tears as she spoke to reporters. “I have been waiting for two years. …I have also been denied justice for the two years that I’ve been searching for my father.”

Arroyo expelled the Ampatuans from her ruling party after the massacre and declared martial law in Maguindanao province, enabling the army and police to round up the suspects and attempt to restore order.

Roque said that although there is no evidence that Arroyo masterminded the massacre, “she not only funded and armed the Ampatuans but gave them the sense of influence. She could have prevented it. She knew about possible dangers.”

Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Philippine-massacre-victims-kin-sue-ex-president-2281339.php#ixzz1eULYADDT

Related articles

[In the Web] World marks 2nd year of massacre

Posted on by dars0357

Justice to the Victims of Maguindanao Massacre! Photo from kilusan.net

BAGUIO CITY ,Philippines  – The world marks the second anniversary of the Maguindanao massacre as International Day to End Impunity (IDEI).

Though it is disheartening especially to Filipinos, the event recalls the single deadliest attack on the press ever, said Rowena Paraan, executive director of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Media Safety Office in the Philippines.

At least 58 were killed including 32 members of the media on Nov. 23, 2009 when around a hundred gunmen stopped a convoy on its way to file the candidacy of now Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu.

The victims were systematically murdered and buried in shallow pits or dumped in grasslands near a remote highway in Sitio Masalay, Ampatuan town.

Groups around the world espousing free expression and press organizations will mark the first International Day to End Impunity, a global call to demand justice for those persecuted for exercising their right to freedom of expression.

“It is just unfortunate that that day is marked as such as if the Philippines is the center of impunity (a negative tag) worldwide,” Paraan told a forum of journalism students and media practitioners here preparing activities for the Nov. 23 commemoration.

The Toronto-based International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), a network of 95 free expression and free press organizations worldwide, is lead organizer of the IDEI.

The Maguindanao massacre is considered the worst single incident of electoral violence in recent Philippine history and the single deadliest attack on the press ever.

IFEX said from Mexico to Russia, Iraq to Somalia, “journalists, media workers, writers and others who speak truth to power continue to be murdered with impunity.”

The Philippines was earlier tagged as one of the deadliest countries for journalists.

Citing figures from the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP), Paraan said 146 journalists have been killed in the country since 1986 when democracy was restored.

But it was lamentable that there were only 10 cases where convictions have been successful, though not one among the masterminds was convicted.

Already, there were five work-related killings of journalists under President Aquino and 15 active media court cases, including the Maguindanao massacre where 196 are suspects but only 93 are in jail and 103 remain at large.

Read full story at http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=749948&publicationSubCategoryId=63

Related articles