‘No decent gov’t will allow
massacre to go unpunished’

by Tita C. Valderama

TWO of the country’s most prominent nongovernmental organizations have issued separate calls for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to bring to justice the perpetrators in Monday’s carnage in Maguindanao.

The National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) on Thursday called on the president to create an impartial investigative team to look into the massacre of at least 57 people, including 27 journalists, in the stronghold of one of the administration’s most dependable supporters.

The Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), meanwhile, dared the country’s chief executive to use her vast powers and the government’s resources in prosecuting those responsible, especially the masterminds, for Monday’s mass murder.

“No government of decent repute would allow a massacre, especially of this proportion, to go unpunished,” said FLAG chair Jose Manuel Diokno.

“In a government of laws,” he continued, “the evil men who took the innocents’ lives would be identified, arrested, prosecuted and jailed…but ours is not a government of laws, it is a government of men and women who seem to be so blinded with power and wealth that they would sell their souls for votes, and cry crocodile tears when innocent men, women, and children are mutilated and murdered.”

Most of the fatalities were in a long convoy of vehicles that were on their way to Shariff Aguak, where Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu’s wife Genalyn was to file his certificate of candidacy for Maguindanao governor on his behalf. A few other female relatives of the vice mayor were also with the group.

Mangudadatu was expecting to be up against current Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. for that seat in next year’s elections.

The Ampatuan clan’s patriarch, Andal Sr., is the incumbent governor of Maguindanao.

On Thursday, Andal Jr. surrendered to authorities and is now in Manila. He has been charged with multiple murders before the Department of Justice (DOJ) over last Monday’s slaughter of Mangudadatu’s wife, relatives, and supporters, along with journalists, lawyers, and apparently even those who just happened to be on the same road at the same time as the ill-fated convoy.

Namfrel in a press statement said that the Arroyo government should treat the gruesome incident in Maguindanao not as just an example of election-related violence, but also as criminal acts that need to be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.

The pioneer in election monitoring in the country, Namfrel suggested that a composite team from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), and the DOJ thoroughly investigate the murders. The team should make its report public within a reasonable period of time, said Namfrel.

It also called on the PNP to completely revamp its personnel in Maguindanao and ensure those assigned in the area are non-partisan.

FLAG, a nationwide lawyers’ group committed to the protection and promotion of human rights and civil liberties, for its part said that the Maguindanao massacre was “a direct result of Gloria M. Arroyo’s obsession with votes at any cost.”

The province’s acknowledged political warlords are said to be responsible for delivering significant number of votes for the administration.

“By pandering to warlords in exchange for votes, Arroyo has created small kingdoms in the provinces ruled by local tyrants and their private armies,” said FLAG’s Diokno. “By callously disregarding human rights, she has spawned a culture of violence and impunity where even the most terrible crimes have gone unpunished. And by tolerating, if not participating in corrupt deals, her government has become a haven for crooks, a den of thieves whose greed is surpassed only by their lust for power.”

Diokno questioned the undue delays in the PNP’s investigation of the incident, as well as the apparent inaction of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez with respect to the possible liabilities of public officials involved.

If the Arroyo government is truly sincere in putting the killers behind bars, Diokno said, it has all the power, resources and people to solve the massacre and arrest and prosecute the perpetrators.

The noted human-rights lawyer, however, wondered aloud if the DOJ had made any effort to locate and protect witnesses, as well as to preserve the crime scene and prevent crucial evidence from being contaminated, lost, or tampered.

In the meantime, Namfrel proposed that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) move its Maguindanao office to perhaps the former provincial capitol in Simuay, Sultan Kudarat.

It also suggested that the 2010 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao be held at least a week earlier than the scheduled May 10 polls, and that Maguindanao be placed under Comelec control.

Namfrel appealed to the parties involved in Monday’s carnage to restrain themselves from seeking revenge. It condemned the pervading climate of impunity, coercion, and terror to maintain or secure elective positions that give rise to warlordism and further violence.

It called for the dismantling of all private armies and the confiscation of their firearms, starting with the known warring factions not only in Maguindanao, but also in other areas in the country as well, particularly those identified as hotspots every election.

Namfrel said a total gun ban should be imposed by the Comelec and implemented by the PNP in these hotspots to prevent further violence as the election period draws near. The group also said that the PNP should expedite investigations and resolution of past incidences of violence against elected officials and political rivals, as well as have the will to prosecute perpetrators of the crime regardless of political affiliations and connections. – PCIJ, November 2009