‘Scary’ promotion

Trick or treat? Army officials treated by CA as Halloween nears
By Julius D. Mariveles and Cong B. Corrales

“SCARY.” “Dismaying.” “Disappointing.” “A threat to our freedoms.”

Reactions flew hard and fast yesterday after the Commission on Appointments confirmed the promotion of two military officials who were commanding Army ground units when the Ampatuan Massacre happened on November 23, 2009 in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao.

“What scares me most is that his promotion as a one-star general means he can be given a command, the logistics of which may be accessible to the accused,” lawyer Prima Quinsayas told the PCIJ after the CA confirmed the promotions of Brig. Gen. Medardo Geslani and Col. Rolando Nerona.

NORMA MERISCO, mother to a murdered son, weeps as she nears the gravesite where her son, Rey, was buried along with the other victims last November 23, 2009. This photo was taken during the first year commemoration last November 23, 2010 | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

Geslani headed the Army’s 601st Brigade while Nerona commanded the 46th Infantry Battalion when the massacre took place.

Fifty-eight people were killed, 32 of them journalists and media workers, when paramilitary men and armed goons allegedly slew them allegedly upon orders of the Ampatuan family in the village of Masalay, Ampatuan town.

“According to witnesses, Geslani was one of the Army officers very close to the Ampatuan patriarch,” Quinsayas added as she pointed out that the two were even listed as witnesses for the three principal accused – Andal Ampatuan, Sr. and his sons, Andal, Jr., and Zaldy.

WATCH THIS VIDEO OF THE AUGUST 6 NEWS CONFERENCE OF SOME OF THE RELATIVES OF THE VICTIMS

Rowena Paraan, national chairperson of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, said the process of the CA in confirming the promotion of the two speaks something about the way alleged failures by military officials are being treated.

“There was no effort to ask the families of the victims and groups opposing their promotion; they were not even asked to attend the hearings to express their side,” Paraan said.

Melinda Quintos de Jesus, executive director of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, said they did not send out any formal opposition to the CA but tried to reach out to some of its members expressing their stand.

“It’s too disappointing,” she said shortly after learning of the CA decision yesterday afternoon. “I don’t know how they could consider those kind of failures in the light of such cases that reflect on the fulture of impunity.”

She adds, however, that she was not “terribly surprised because many of these things are decided by many considerations in the political arena.”

‘No more hope left for this government’

Even relatives of the victims expressed dismay at the CA decision, saying that they were not even invited to the hearings nor were they asked about their views over the promotion of the two officials.

“This government is so unfair. There is no justice. Only those who are in power or allied with those in power have justice in this government. I think there is no more hope left for this government,” Catherine Nuñez, mother of slain UNTV reporter Victor Nuñez, told PCIJ in the vernacular.

“We are dismayed,” Emily Lopez, president of the Justice Now Movement, said in Filipino.

“Does the CA investigate the background of people who are about to be promoted? Weren’t they supposed to be held responsible for their failure to act?” she asked.

Dabet Panelo, NUJP Media Safety Office coordinator, said Geslani pointed to the PNP as the one supposedly responsible for securing the victims.

Panelo, who attended the CA hearing, said Geslani explained to the members that the Army cannot simply step in to attend to “election-related” matters especially during the election period.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, on the other hand, blamed former defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro whom he said had “prior knowledge” about plans to kill then Buluan town vice-mayor and now Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu.

Ric Cachuela, chair of an association of families of the Ampatuan Massacre victims, during a news conference in General Santos City on the first year commemoration of the incident | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

The victims were part of a convoy about to deliver the certificate of candidacy of Mangudadatu to an office of the Commission on Elections.

The incident, considered as the single deadliest attack on journalists across the world, is now being commemorated on the same day the International Day to End Impunity is being marked. The massacre date has been chosen by the International Freedom Exchange to draw attention to the problem of impunity as a major obstacle in freedom of expression.

The murder case is now being heard before Regional Trial Court Branch 221 in Quezon City by Judge Jocelyn Reyes-Solis. Hounded by technical and procedural delays, the case is dragging on to its fifth year.