Maguindanao massacre: Justice still denied!

Today is the 9th anniversary of the passing into eternal life of the late publisher and founder of the Philippine STAR (together with the late Ma’am Betty Go-Belmonte) whom I regard as a dear friend and mentor who turned me into a journalist. How time flies indeed. I still recall that I was driving to the town of Carcar for their fiesta when I heard the news that Sir Max had a relapse of his pneumonia in Narita, Tokyo and eventually passed away.

Manong Max was then given a posthumous award, the Order of Lakandula (Rank of Grand Officer) and a state funeral by then Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. I have since visited his grave twice since he passed away. The first time I visited his grave, Sara Soliven de Guzman had Don Don, the old driver of Manong Max fetch me from my Makati hotel to visit his grave at the Libingan.

While nine years have already passed and so many things have already happened, the spirit of Sir Max still lives in my heart and my memory. Whenever important issues arise and I’m behind my computer to write about the issue… the first question on my mind is… “What would Manong Max write about this issue?” Then I proceed to write on the topic.

Incidentally over the weekend, Mrs. Preciosa Soliven was in Cebu for a Theosophy National Convention at the Betania Retreat House. So for the weekend, we brought her around with my whole family, including my grandchildren to have a good time with their Lola Preciosa. It was her first trip to Cebu since the passing of Manong Max. Whenever I meet with the old friends of Manong Max, a common question they would ask me is what would Manong Max write about the presidency of P-Noy? My answer to my friends is… just read what Sara Soliven de Guzman has written and you will know what Manong Max would say.

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Speaking of anniversaries, yesterday was also the 6th anniversary of the infamous Maguindanao massacre, which happened on Nov. 23, 2009. While I was writing this piece last Sunday evening, History Channel featured a documentary entitled “The Maguindanao Massacre,” which featured the main protagonists, then Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. vs. the current Governor Ismael “Toto” Mangudadatu.

What was remarkable with that documentary was that it was a reconstruction of the events that happened six years ago. Gov. Toto Mangudadatu who was then Vice Mayor of Buluan town was challenging the leadership of Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. He had a convoy of six vehicles with some 58 people together with some 37 journalists led by the wife and sisters of Gov. Mangudadatu to go to the Comelec office to file his certificate of candidacy. They never reached their destination as their motorcade was hijacked and all the passengers executed and buried, including the vehicles.

As the History Channel presenter said, “Never before had so many journalists were killed at one time in one place. The Maguindanao massacre is one of the nation’s darkest days in Philippine history.” The presenter like most of us asked the poignant question… “Why are the courts of law taking so long to adjudicate this most notorious criminal case in the country?”

In that documentary, Gov. Mangudadatu literally accused Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. as the brains and the killer of the Maguindanao massacre. Then one of the killers belonging to the Ampatuan camp came out to tell the press how the Maguindanao massacre happened? With all the evidence already collected and witnesses’ testimony recorded, it is beyond our comprehension that justice for the Maguindanao massacre has been so delayed and therefore denied!

While former Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was very well connected with the Ampatuan political warlords… however the truth must be told that the Ampatuans took control of Maguindanao when then Pres. Corazon Aquino appointed Andal Ampatuan Sr. as “Chief-of-Offices of Shariff Aguak after the 1986 People Power Revolution.”

With justice still denied the victims of the Maguindanao massacre, it is time to pin the blame of this very horrendous crime to the political system that we still have in our country today where armed political warlords continue to be in power… thanks to the acceptance of political butterflies where they move from one ruling party to the next and thus remain in power.

This is why we have always batted for a genuine national transformation of our political system… from the present highly centralized form of government to a federal and a parliamentary form of government. But the Filipino people are simply taken for a ride…hook, line and sinker even if they know that a great number of our political leadership have been tagged in the Janet Lim Napoles files.