TOTAL BREAKDOWN: THE VIOLENCE OF HISTORY

         With the most foul, gross, and utterly repugnant act of savagery that has written one of the blackest pages in the history of the world’s press, Philippines has been tagged as the world’s top dangerous place for journalists and the world’s poster child of impunity ranking sixth in the global impunity index rating.

            That grave political barbarism transgressing the human rights of those innocent civilians is just one of the myriad tragic proofs of the Philippines as a failed state - one where laws and rules are not enforced causing the death of our fellow Filipinos.

            The government’s failure to serve justice, security and peace to the people merely reflects the total breakdown of Philippine democracy.

The Incomprehensible Bloodbath

            Atrocities of the 23^rd day of November 2009, when 60 civilians, 34 of which are journalists, were brutally killed en masse in the town of Ampatuan in Maguindanao marked the darkest era in the world press. Moreover, this horrific tragedy magnified the severity of the state of political dynasty in the local government and exposed how nasty Philippine politics is to the globe.

            The victims, 21 of which are women, were composed of Mangudadatu’s wife, his two sisters, journalists, lawyers, aides, and motorists who were mistakenly identified as part of the convoy. They were about to file a certificate of candidacy for Esmael Mangudadatu, vice mayor of Buluantown. Mangudadatu was challenging Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan, Jr., son of the incumbent Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan, Sr., in the forthcoming Maguindanao gubernatorial election.

            The Ampatuans hold the gubernatorial seat for almost ten years now and were able to build and strengthen a series of positions in the local government of Maguindanao – a smooth step by step construction of political dynasty by the Ampatuans.

            Political families or dynasties, with their warlords and private armies, rule the Philippine political landscape, especially in the provinces. With land-owning Filipino families forming their own dynasties, building their own private armies and running for public office to protect their interests, political dynasty persisted up to this time. According to the Center for People Empowerment in Governance, a Manila think tank, there are an estimated 250 political dynasties in the Philippines. Of the 265 members of Congress in 2007, 160 of them belonged to these powerful families.

            Warlordism is one of the factors that maintained political dynasty in the Philippines. Political dynasty got wealth and power. That power would not be completed without arms.

            Executive Order 546 authorizes the creation of private armed groups such as Civilian Volunteer Organizations or CVOs and Special Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit Active Auxiliary (SCAAs). CVOs and CAFGUs were utilized by the government in its anti-insurgency program such as OPLAN BANTAY LAYA II. This order has been blamed for allowing local politicians to convert their private militias into legal security forces.
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