Category: 2010 Elections

‘Scary’ promotion

Julius Mariveles Leave a comment

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

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.”

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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.

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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

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.

Rekindling hope

Ed Lingao Leave a comment

IT WAS a gathering repeated over and over again for the past 57 months. This time, on the grounds of the National Council of Churches of the Philippines office in Quezon City, Philippines, journalists, families and friends of the victims of the Ampatuan Massacre gathered to light candles and rekindle hope as the case dragged on to its 57th month yesterday, November 23, 2014.

The Ampatuan Massacre is considered the worst single attack on journalists worldwide. Thirty-two of those killed in the sub-village of Masalay in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao province in southern Philippines were journalists and media workers. They were part of a group that was supposed to deliver the certificate of candidacy of now Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu.

Then Maguindanao Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr., a close ally of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is suspected to have ordered the killing. His son, Andal Jr., is alleged to have directed the killings on the ground.

The Ampatuan Massacre case is now being heard by a regional trial court in Quezon City, still stuck after several years on the motions for bail filed by several of the principal accused. Public and private prosecutors are at odds over the handling of the case (“Don’t rest case yet, media groups warn Maguindanao prosecutors”), with some private prosecutors saying that the premature resting of the evidence-in-chief would derail the search for justice for the victims and their families.

There were also allegations that some public prosecutors, including a justice undersecretary, have been bribed while families of the victims exposed attempts to pay them off in exchange for withdrawing from the complaint (“We Want Justice, Not Money”).

Meanwhile, lawyers of several of the principal accused, including Andal Sr. and Andal Jr., withdrew from the case (“I was conflicted, Fortun explains why he quit as Ampatuan counsel”).

For more information and background about the massacre, you can go to the Ampatuan Trial Watch microblog site of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility.

This video short produced by PCIJ’s Julius D. Mariveles tells you in brief about the commemoration activity on the 57th month of the Ampatuan Massacre.

Astroturfing? Twitter boosts? Did poll bets burn money online?

mcmangahas Leave a comment

ASTROTURFING? TWITTER BOOSTS?

The terms may be facile to crack for those who labor and learn from the online world, and are at any hour of day or night engaged in social media networks.

Yet even as the Commission on Elections started to strictly enforce campaign finance rules in cyberspace in the May 2013 elections, many candidates circumvented the spending limits by shifting their online ads from static sites. They put their money and ads in the wild and wooly world of social media.

Even in cyberspace, it’s still a game of cat and mouse; and when the cat is away, the mouse clicks like crazy.

Part 1 of our latest report, “Pols shift focus from static sites in 2010 to social media in 2013″ looks at how candidates in the last elections shifted the battle for votes from formal and overt online political advertisements in static websites, to the more heavily engaged, freewheeling, and freer, but not necessarily cheaper, social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Part 2, “Social Media and the Elections: Still preaching to the choir?” looks at the potentials and pitfalls of the web as a platform for political discourse and voter education, amid the offline reality that only 30 percent of all Filipinos have access to the Internet, and even fewer are active on social media networks.

This two-part report is a production of PCIJ’s Multimedia Team that is composed of Program Director Ed Lingao, Platform Architect Markku Seguerra, and Deputy Producer Cong Corrales.

It is the first in a series of PCIJ reports on campaign finance issues in the last elections that will strive to assess how money flowed from donors to candidates to contractors; whether truthful reports will be filed and the correct taxes paid; and how else we could conduct more transparent, accountable, and inclusive elections. Stay tuned for more!

Never forget: The Ampatuan massacre

Ed Lingao Leave a comment

text and photos by
Cong B. Corrales

JOURNALISTS AND MEDIA WORKERS held a photo exhibit, ecumenical prayer and candle-lighting ceremony on Thursday (May 23) in New Manila, Quezon City to remember the victims of the grisly Ampatuan Massacre that shocked the world 42 months ago, and remind the nation of the continuing reign of the culture of impunity in the country.

The travelling exhibit dubbed “Never Forget: The Ampatuan Massacre” opened in the morning at the National Cathedral of St. Mary and St. John, 277 E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue, Quezon City. This travelling exhibit includes photographs of Jes Aznar, Nonoy Espina, and Veejay Villafranca, Vincent Go, among others. The exhibit shows how the nation moves forward from the gruesome murder that exposes how impunity works at its worst. Never Forget has been displayed in schools, churches, and government institutions such as the Congress and Senate.

Media groups led by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), as well as journalists from different media outfits, capped off the whole-day memorial with an ecumenical prayer, a short program and a candle-lighting for the victims of impunity.

In her speech during the program, Rowena Paraan, NUJP national chairperson said that while the media community continues to remember the the victims of the massacre, journalists and media workers across the nation should also fight against the continued culture of impunity under the Aquino administration.

“Why must PNoy wait for 2016? He must do what he can to stop this culture of impunity now,” said Paraan.

For her part, Edith Tiamzon—wife of Ampatuan Massacre victim Daniel, a UNTV cameraman—expressed her gratitude for the media community’s continued support.

“Kahit na parang hindi umuusad ang kaso, nagpapasalamat ako sa suporta ninyo. Nagbibigay ito ng lakas ng loob magpatuloy hanggang makamit natin ang hustiya,” Tiamzon told journalists and media workers.

Forty-two months ago, police and militiamen supposedly led by Andal Ampatuan Jr. waylaid a convoy that was supposed to file the candidacy papers of Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu. The incident on November 23, 2009 led to the death of 58 people, including 32 journalists, and has since been known as the worst case of election-related violence in recent years. The massacre has also been known as the single most brazen attack against journalists and media workers.

The Ampatuan massacre has earned the country the dubious role of being the international poster cover of impunity. The International Freedom of Expression Exchange Network (IFEX)—a federation of 90 independent organizations worldwide—has declared every 23rd of November, as the International Day to End Impunity.

Forty-two months since the massacre, 99 of the 196 accused are still at large. Exacerbating this is the snail-paced trials brought about by 750 pleadings (motions, manifestations, petitions, comments) filed; 540 of which are filed by the defense panel. There are still 103 of the 307 motions filed by both the defense and prosecution have yet to be resolved by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221. One of the witnesses have been killed and another one allegedly committed suicide.

In its latest special report on Impunity Index, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has ranked the Philippines third worst in the world. Worse, the country ranked third for the fourth consecutive year. War-torn Iraq and Somalia ranked first and second, respectively.

The country’s impunity index rating this year is “0.580 unsolved journalist murders per million inhabitants.” Last year, CPJ also ranked the Philippines third worst in the world with a rating of 0.589.

“Despite President Benigno Aquino III’s vow to reverse impunity in journalist murders, the Philippines ranked third worst worldwide for the fourth consecutive year. Fifty-five journalist murders have gone unsolved in the past decade,” the May 2, 2013 special report of CPJ entitled “Getting away with murder,” reads in part. The CPJ—founded in 1981—is an independent, non-profit organization that advocates for “press freedom worldwide by defending the rights of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal.”

Published yearly, CPJ’s Impunity Index special report monitors “countries where journalists are killed regularly and governments fail to solve the crimes.” The 2013 Impunity Index report covers media killings which have remained unsolved from January 1, 2003 to December 31 last year. CPJ’s report this year lists 12 countries since they listed only countries with five or more unsolved cases. The group considers a case unsolved “when no convictions have been won.”

The CPJ report has identified the government’s inability to secure the witnesses of media killings as its foremost obstacle in ending the culture of impunity in the country.

“The insecurity of witnesses is a key problem in addressing impunity. Authorities in the Philippines, ranked third worst on CPJ’s index, have yet to make headway in the prosecution of dozens of suspects in a politically motivated massacre in Maguindanao province that claimed the lives of more than 50 people, including 32 journalists and media workers, in 2009. Three witnesses in the Maguindanao case have themselves been murdered, one of them dismembered and mutilated,” the report reads.

Dynasties getting ‘fatter,’ says new AIM study

Ed Lingao Leave a comment

MORE AND MORE political dynasties are getting “fat,” and more and more dynasties that are already fat are getting even fatter.

This in sum is one of the major findings of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Policy Center in its latest study on the proliferation of political dynasties in the Philippines.

A fat dynasty, said the Center’s Executive Director, Professor Ronald Mendoza, is one that has been able to expand across several elective positions simultaneously. For example, a political family may have at any one time a member in Congress, in the provincial capitol, in the municipal halls, and in the town councils.

Dynasties had earlier been marked by the occupancy by a specific political family of a particular elective position over a succession of terms.

Mendoza however said that based on their study, political families have learned the advantage of having multiple family members in several elective positions at the same time.

“It seems in recent years there has been an expansion of this fatness,” Mendoza said during the presentation of the study to the public at the Discovery Suites in Pasig on Thursday. “There are more dynasties seeking to be fat, and there are more dynasties seeking to be fatter.”

“We have seen family names like the Ampatuans in Maguindanao, the Fuas in Siquijor, and the Singsons in Ilocos, and the Ecleos in the Dinagat islands,” Mendoza told the PCIJ. “These are some of the fatter dynasties in our data set.”

Mendoza also noted an alarming trend that showed a correlation between the existence of fat dynasties and poverty. A previous AIM Policy Center Study attempted to establish this correlation, but Mendoza said it was only now that the evidence was clearer.

“One of the things we are seeing in terms of evidence is the more poverty you have, the more fat dynasties you tend to have,” Mendoza said.

View portions of the interview with Professor Mendoza below:

Another interesting finding in the study is the correlation between the presence  of media organizations in an area and their effect on the political dynasties.

In particular, Mendoza said it appeared that the more AM radio stations there were in a province, the less fat the dynasty tends to be. On the other hand, the more AM radio stations there are, the more positions in the province are occupied by members of other dynasties.

Now that may seem a bit confusing, but Mendoza explains it this way – it appears that the media may be leveling the playing field in dynastic areas, meaning dynasties are less fat because there is more competition for elective positions. On the other hand, Mendoza says this also shows that the sectors that are taking advantage of this level playing field are not ordinary people, but other rival dynasties. Thus, more political families are stepping up to the plate to compete for positions.

“Hindi sila maka expand it seems, according to the results we are seeing,”  Mendoza said of dynasties. “Media is leveling the playing field by providing information.”

Watch Mendoza’s interview and a portion of the presentation below:

 

Professor Julio Teehankee of the De La Salle University noted how influential the country’s political families have been throughout history, to the effect that “political clans, and not political parties are really the building blocks of Philippine politics.”

Teehankee cited several studies, including that of Dr. Temario Rivera, that showed that up to 94 percent of the provinces in the Philippines have political clans or dynasties.

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Of the estimated 178 political families here, Teehankee said that 56 percent come from what he called “the old elite,” with the remaining 44 percent as newer political families.

All in all, each province in the Philippines has a total of 2.31 political families. The region with the greatest number of political families is Central Luzon, or Region 3, with 24 political clans. The Calabarzon region follows with 18 political clans.

One of the obvious impacts of the prevalence of these political clans is the primacy of patronage politics both on the local and national level. Teehankee noted that in dealing with local governments infiltrated with political clans, the national government has been centralizing the distribution of patronage rather than centralizing the development of governance institutions.