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11-24-2009 - Maguindanao, Philippines: |
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 GRIM UNDER. Policemen carry from a mass grave the body of one of those who perished in the Nov. 23 Maguindanao killings. Photo by Rommel G Rebollido | Cebu City, Philippines,November 24, 2009 On Monday, November 23,2009, a group of at least 20 Filipino journalists in Maguindanao, central Mindanao, Philippines, joined a convoi led by the wife and family members of local politician Ismail Mangudadatu. Jenalyn Tiamson-Mangudadatu was about to file her husbands candidacy for governorship in the upcoming 2010 elections. 24 hours later the Philippine National Police retrieves 35 bodies from shallow mass graves near the highway. Among the dead Mangudadatus two sisters, two lawyers and at least 12 journalists. The search for further bodies is continuing, there were no survivers found. |
Some 40 people, around half of them journalists, were abducted by a group of armed men in Maguindanao, Central Mindanao, on Monday. They were part of a convoy transporting, Jenalyn Tiamson-Mangudadatu, the wife of Ismail Mangudadatu, vice mayor of Buluan, Maguindanao, and their supporters.
The convoy, in turn, was headed to the Commission on Election (Comelec) office is Shariff Aguak town to submit Ismail’s certificate of candidacy for the governorship of Maguindanao.
The journalists were invited to cover the event.
Ismail alerted authorities over the incident, saying he received a call from his wife, Jenalyn, who reported that their convoy was being blocked by armed men. An aerial search conducted found the abandoned cars late in the afternoon in a barangay near the highway only about 5 kilometers away from the provincial capital.
Shortly after, the military discovered 21 bodies in shallow graves scattered in a wide area, according to reports from the Philippine National Police that is currently conducting an autopsy on the bodies.
A day later, as the security cordon in the area loosened enough to allow media in, the number rose to 24 and, later in the day, to 35. A large hole was also reportedly dug using provincial-owned construction equipment and speculations rose that this was in an attempt to bury the vehicles that composed the convoy.
Among the dead were several members of the Mangudadatu family, lawyers and, as of press time, 12 identified local journalists, some of them working for national Philippine media outlets.
Meanwhile, as the police searched for more bodies, Ismail announced in a radio dzBB interview that there were four “survivors” of the attack who are in his camp’s custody.
These survivors, whom he declined to name, “tagged the powerful Ampatuan clan as behind the atrocities”, according to a subsequent GMA7 report.
Later reports however reveal that the “survivors” were actually not present in the attack, having been left in their designated billeting area in neighboring Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat, when the convoy headed by Jenalyn left.
The “survivors”, Ismail said, reportedly named clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan and his son, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Zaldy Ampatuan, as those who have ordered the attack.
Ismail is challenging Zaldy as Maguindanao governor and the filing of his CoC would have made it official.
According to earlier media reports, Mangudadatu already received warnings not to run for the governorship from supporters of his opponent, the incumbent governor Ampatuan.
Reports of the Philippine Daily Inquirer say that the Mangudadatu clan has a long-running feud with the family of Andal Ampatuan, who police say is known to control his own private army.
Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina, National Police spokesman, does not confirm the accusation but announced that the police already have names and suspects and now needs to substantiate these with evidence to file charges.
And, while Mangudadatu announced that this wife is among the dead, Espina said the police has so far only identified his two sisters among the victims.
According to a separate report by GMA7, the Philippine National Police has suspended Chief Inspector Sukarno Dicay, the dead of the Shariff Kabunsuan Police Office and the concurrent assistant provincial director in Maguindanao.
This after initial information, also coming from Ismail, tagged him as among the suspects.
According to Espina, Dicay will “be restricted in his quarters pending result of investigation.”
The scale of the incident has shocked the country and the Philippine media.
Not until late this afternoon were journalists able to enter the area to confirm the reports.
Military and local civilians warned them not to enter and those warnings are currently taken very serious.
Currently, most information is provided by military and police sources and interviews with Ismail Mangudadatu.
The Ampatuan family has not commented on the issue so far.
Mindanao’s Instable Security Situation has a long history
For a long time large parts of Mindanao have existed in an environment of insecurity and violence.
The situation is marked by the conflict between the Philippine Government and groups, such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, that is struggling for self determination through the creation of a self-governance territory for Mindanao’s Muslims in the boundaries of their ancestral home land, a conflict that has just last year displaced more than 700000 people in a renewed outbreak of violence.
Aside from this ongoing struggle Mindanao’s people face a continuing communist insurgency and the presence of groups using kidnappings to pursue personal and financial interests.
Politicians and land owners have raised private armies, the unrestricted proliferation of arms and a culture of family feuds and clan wars have contributed to placing the security situation constantly volatile.
During the past year, the incidents of kidnappings have rapidly increased in what many journalists cynically called the “fund raising season”.
The upcoming power struggle related to the 2010 national election has the potential to once more shake the already instable situation in Mindanao.
The current incident, which journalists agree is likely to be result of a local political and clan feud just shows how inefficient and questionable the rule of law is in Mindanao.
National and International Media Condemn the Attacks on Journalists
The National Union of Journalists in the Philippines who has members and a local chapter in the area where the incident happened issued a statement condemning the attack calling for immediate action by the government to free the remaining hostages. Although one day later hope has decreased that any survivors will be found.
Likewise, international media organizations such as Reporters Without Borders and the International News Safety Institute (INSI) are condemning the attacks, expressing condolences to the families of the victims.
Philippine journalists have become used to working in a dangerous environment.
In the past years the Philippines had been ranked as one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, having a death toll only topped by countries such as Iraq and Columbia.
Most of the incidents of media killings are assassinations related to political interest or corruption cases, the statistic compiled by the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines states. A fact finding mission conducted by the International Federation of Journalists in 2005 already discovered that impunity and lack of law enforcement greatly contribute to the situation.
However, with the latest incident the situation has reached a new dimension.
“Never in the history of journalism have the news media suffered such a heavy loss of life in one day”, Reporters Without Borders states. by Antonia Koop and Karlon H. Rama, with reports from Rommel Rebollido, Richel Umel, Peterson Bergado, PECOJON. Photo by Rommel Rebollido |
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