Justice still not served one year after massacre in Philippines
On 23 November 2009, at least 57 people were abducted and brutally
killed and their bodies dumped in a mass grave on a hillside above the
town of Ampatuan in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao.
Those killed included 32 journalists.
"How the Philippine
government handles this case will demonstrate how serious President
Aquino is about reining in private armies and curbing human rights
violations,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific
Programme Director.
"The government has to show that the
Philippines has the ability and will to deal fairly but resolutely with a
massacre that constituted the worst ever attack on journalists anywhere
in the world.”
Those killed had been travelling in a convoy to
witness the filing of candidacy papers for a local politician when they
were stopped by a group of about 100 armed men. The ambush was motivated
by a long-standing political feud between members of the group and the
Ampatuan clan.
Leading members of the powerful local Ampatuan
clan have since been charged in connection with the killings, however
the trials have been marked by delays and no prosecutions have been
concluded.
Former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr., and
his sons Andal Ampatuan Jr. and Zaldy Amapatuan are on trial for the
killings. Of the other nearly 200 people implicated in the killings,
news sources report that 82 have been detained, and another 114,
including private militia members, clan members and police and
government soldiers, remain at large.
The Maguindano trials have
been marked by delays and judicial wrangling. Earlier this month
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said she would accelerate the
proceedings, but admitted that the trials could take six more years.
One
year after the massacre, other private armies continue to operate in
the Philippines under Executive Order 546, which former President Gloria
Arroyo signed and implemented in 2006. This order effectively
authorizes private armies by allowing the Philippine National Police to
deputize militias and Civilian Volunteer Organizations (CVOs) as "force
multipliers”.
Many members of Governor Andal Ampatuan’s private
army are part of CVOs, which the government had established and armed.
The system of authorization for armed groups which are then used as
private armies remains intact.
"If President Aquino is serious
about ending the violence associated with private armies, he should
revoke Executive Order 546 at once,” said Sam Zarifi. "The fact that
private armies continue to operate a year after the Maguindanao massacre
is an affront to the victims and an invitation to further disasters.”
This is exactly what I told you about, hope you will be less like now after reading all this stuff. To tell the truth about something that everybody wants to know, but others don't give chance to become known is good job. But... Still better to have those sources of true information alive!
