ON FRIDAY, November 23, the nation marks the third anniversary of the Maguindanao Massacre, the worst case of election-related violence in Philippine history, and, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the single deadliest event for journalists on a day in recent world history.
The massacre claimed 58 lives, including that of 32 journalists and media workers. In their memory, as well as that of journalists across the world who had also been murdered or remain under attack, press freedom advocates and watchdogs across the globe have declared November 23 as the International Day to End Impunity.
But the quest for justice for the victims of the Maguindanao Massacre seems stuck in a long, torturous migration path, and it is most certainly, not a daang matuwid. It is a quest variably weighed down by slow and inept officials and agencies, lawyers given to excessive dilatory maneuvers, the vagaries of politics, and elections that visit every three years like a social plague.
Our latest offering is a two-part report to mark Year 3 of the Maguindanao Massacre. It unravels how this tragic story is turning more tragic by the day.
Authored by PCIJ Multimedia Director Ed Lingao, with research assistance by Mindanews Editor Carolyn O. Arguillas, the report looks at how the Ampatuans have managed to claw their way back to political and economic power, despite the Maguindanao Massacre. It focuses on two pegs:
* The sale in May 2011 by Andal Ampatuan Jr., lead respondent in the Massacre case, of eight large real properties to one of his lawyers, an apparent sweetheart deal that surprised court officials, regulators, and public prosecutors. The Ombudsman and the Commission on Audit had failed to include the eight properties in the lifestyle check and audit they had conducted, and in the freeze order that the Anti-Money Laundering Council had secured from the Court of Appeals in June 2011.
* At least 72 clan members (with Ampatuan for surname and middle name) are running for local office in the May 2013 elections, including nine as candidates of President Aquino’s Liberal Party, and 34 others as candidates of Vice President Jejomar Binay’s United Nationalist Alliance (UNA). UNA is a coalition of Binay’s PDP-Laban party and the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) party of former President Joseph Estrada.
Part 1 and Sidebar 1 of this report are now online.