Maguindanao massacre: 7 years, still no justice

After seven years, justice remains elusive for the victims of the Maguindanao massacre and their loved ones, with the commemoration becoming more significant in light of the current cases of arbitrary or summary executions, according to a newly formed rights group.

Based on court records, 114 of the original 197 accused have been arrested, many of whom are detained either at the Quezon City Jail annex at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City or at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center at Camp Crame.

But due to the large number of suspects, the court handling the multiple murder case has yet to hand down a single judgment.

The Network Against Killings in the Philippines (NAK-Philippines), formed earlier this month, announced it would launch a campaign against arbitrary or summary executions by holding a National Day of Prayer and Solidarity for Victims of Extrajudicial Killings and Their Families through a mass to be celebrated by Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo at 4:45 p.m.

at the Shrine of Mother Perpetual Help, Redemptorist Church in Baclaran, Parañaque City.

The group said this was in time for the seventh anniversary of the Maguindanao massacre today.

The incident occurred during the time of former president Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo. Lawyer Romel Bagares, counsel for some of the journalists killed during the massacre, said the challenge for the Duterte administration would be to give justice to them and the other victims.

Bagares said the Aquino administration failed to give justice to the 58 people who died in the massacre, including 32 members of the media. The Aquino government repeatedly said then that the delays in the prosecution were not coming from its side.

Relatives of the victims are calling on President Duterte to ensure that the perpetrators of the crime are convicted.

“This should include adequate reparations and acknowledgement of the wrong done by state agents in this case, and an assurance that it will not happen again,” Bagares said.

In today’s launch, NAKPhilippines will call on the Duterte administration to hold accountable members of law enforcement agencies implicated in the extrajudicial killings of civilians in its war on drugs.

The group will also ask Duterte to thoroughly and credibly investigate the thousands of summary killings attributed to unidentified gunmen since June 30, or since he assumed the presidency.

Fr. Amado Picardal, NAKPhilippines spokesman and one of the convenors, said since the war against drugs had been declared, no single law enforcement officer had been taken to court to answer the allegations of arbitrary or summary executions.

“What the police and President Duterte himself have done is to defend the actions of police officers involved in these operations, even though a credible investigation has yet to take place. We fear not only a lack of accountability but possible government cover-up for these crimes,” Picardal said.

Some 3,000 “deaths under investigation” have been reported, the group said.

NAK-Philippines believes that the Duterte administration did not only make the human rights situation in the Philippines worse, but brought it to a new and more dangerous level as the killings in its war on drugs continue.

“It is time for these killings to stop and for the killers to be brought to justice,” the group said.

Unlike previous administrations that have denied complicity in past extrajudicial killings, the Duterte government “encourages these abuses and even promises protection to the perpetrators,” it said. Snail-paced

Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad also hopes that the lower court judge handling the Maguindanao massacre case will soon come out with a decision because he believes that the souls of the victims are still crying out for justice.

“The wheels of justice in our country are snail-paced and that contributes more pain to the victims,” Jumoad said.

The Maguindanao massacre is currently being heard by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes.

Various groups are set to hold activities in different parts of the country today to commemorate the massacre, including a program led by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) in Mendiola, Manila.

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