Media groups to PNoy:
Remember your promises

JOURNALISTS, STUDENTS, and human rights advocates laid 153 mock coffins at the doorstep of Malacanang Palace on the third anniversary of the worst case of election violence in the country that killed 58 people, including 32 journalists and media workers.

Each of the mock coffins represents a mediaman killed in the line of duty since press freedom was restored in the Philippines in 1986, supposedly making the country the freest and most democratic society in asia, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP)

The coffins were laid along Mendiola bridge to commemorate the 2009 Maguindanao Massacre, an event that sealed the country’s reputation as one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. More importantly the coffins are meant as a reminder to President Benigno S. Aquino III that his government has not done enough to solve the problem of impunity in the country.

On November 23, 2009, a convoy bearing the supporters of then Maguindanao gubernatorial candidate Esmael Mangudadatu and accompanied by mediamen, was stopped allegedly by members of the Ampatuan clan along the national highway. The convoy was on its way to the Maguindanao capital, Shariff Aguak, to file Mangudadatu’s election papers.

The convoy was then diverted to a remote hilltop two kilometers from the main highway, where 58 members of the convoy were murdered. Some of the bodies were dumped into open pits, along with their crushed vehicles.

On the third anniversary of the massacre, concerned media groups issued a unity statement assailing the slow pace of the case, and Malacanang’s apparent disinterest in moving the case forward. The groups also decried the support given by both the administration and opposition parties to Ampatuan family members who have filed their certificates of candidacies for the May 2013 elections. At least 72 Ampatuans are running in next year’s balloting, 34 of them under the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), nine others, under President Aquino’s Liberal Party.

Media organizations also reminded President Benigno S. Aquino III of his commitment to seek reforms in the rules of court in order to help speed up the prosecution of the case. Aquino was also reminded of his promise to crack down on loose firearms and on private armed groups in the country.

The President was also reminded of his pledge to strengthen the Witness Protection Program, and form quick-reaction teams to investigate and prosecute media murder cases.

*At least 14 (mediamen) had been murdered during the administration of Mr. Aquino,” said the unity statement read by Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism’s Executive Director Malou Mangahas. “Of the total cases, only 10 cases have won partial convictions. No mastermind has ever been brought to trial.”

Moreover, the media groups lamented the President’s apparent fondness for proposals to curtail press freedom. The groups cited the President’s seeming refusal to push the Freedom of Information bill through Congress, even as he has voiced his preference for the Right of Reply bill and signed into law the Cybercrime Prevention Act.

“Aside from the killings, Mr Aquino has consistently exhibited a penchant for proposals to curtail press freedom and freedom of expression.”

The marchers gathered at the Welcome Rotunda in Quezon City, and then marched in a procession to historic Mendiola to lay the coffins on the bridge leading the Malacanang. The 153 mock coffins took up the entire lane of the bridge, testament to the huge number of journalists killed since press freedom was restored, following the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolt.