Kin of Maguindanao massacre victims expect ‘guilty verdict’
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Mon, 09 Dec 2019 09:52:36 +0000
By ALI G. MACABALANG
SOME kin and supporters of 2009 Maguindanao massacre victims flash peace sign during the 10th year anniversary of the carnage at its site – Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town – last Nov. 23.
COTABATO CITY – Relatives and supporters of victims in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre started regrouping this week in fervent anticipation of a “guilty verdict” for suspects in a 10-day countdown ending on Dec. 20.
Media organizations have united and co-signed a petition asking the Supreme Court to allow their live coverage of the promulgation of judgment inside the courtroom of Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig on Dec. 19.
In their petition filed on Dec. 3, the media groups led by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) asserted that their live coverage “would allow families unable to travel to Manila to immediately hear the decision on the 58 counts of murder” by Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes.
The lady judge on Nov. 29 set the promulgation of judgment in the cases on Dec. 19 at 9:00 a.m.
During the 10th anniversary of the massacre on Nov. 23, the NUJP reportedly held a benefit concert to raise money for the travel to Manila of families and relatives on the day of the judgment, which they have awaited for 10 years.
Maguindanao Rep. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu on the same day had hinted possible assistance by his family and other humanitarian groups for the same purpose.
There are 101 suspects on trial for the massacre of 58 people, 38 of them journalists, who were part of a convoy on Nov. 23, 2009 to cover the filing of candidacy of then gubernatorial aspirant Esmael Mangudadatu at the provincial elections office in Shariff Aguak town.
The convoy, led by Mangudadatu’s wife Genalyn, two sisters and two female lawyers, was waylaid along the highway of adjacent Ampatuan town by more than 100 armed men allegedly led by Andal Ampatuan Jr.
Andal Jr. was reportedly intending to run for governor sans opposition like his father’s uncontested gubernatorial reelection twice.
The principal accused, Andal “Unsay” Jr. and Zaldy Ampatuan, a former Muslim Mindanao regional governor, are in jail. Their fellow accused sibling, Sajid Islam, is out on P11.6 million bail and is currently serving as mayor Shariff Saydona Mustapha. Their fellow respondent father, former Gov. Andal Sr., died while on detention on July 17, 2015.
They are accused of masterminding the heinous massacre on November 23, 2009, where 58 people were shot to death and buried in a shallow grave with their mangled cars in Sitio Masalay in Ampatuan, Maguindanao.
The incident has been deemed the single deadliest attack on journalists in the world and worst election-related violence in Philippine history.
Justice-seeking relatives and supporters have held yearly Mass commemorating the carnage.
In their latest anniversar
http://tempo.com.ph/feed/