TOTAL BREAKDOWN: THE VIOLENCE OF HISTORY

January 20, 2010

          

         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.

Moreover, through this Executive Order 546, the arms and ammunition of warlords and other rogue groups which have wrecked havoc in our country could be said to be supplied and sourced from the arsenals and factors of the Armed Forces of the Philippines thus, involving the name of Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro, the administration’s standard bearer for presidency and the former Secretary of the Department of National Defense in the inhumane issue of Maguindanao Massacre.

            Ampatuans hold a tight grasp to the gubernatorial seat. They do not like anyone to dare get that from them. When Ampatuans knew Mangudadatu’s plan of filing his certificate of candidacy for gubernatorial position, they gave him death threats and that the police had denied his request for an armed escort.

Believing that the Ampatuans follow traditional custom and that the militias would not harm the women, Mangudadatu sent his wife and female relatives to file his candidacy papers before the deadline at the end of the month.

The women might not have had an inkling of the hell they were walking into but they must have known about the risks. 37 Journalists were also invited to cover the most important event in Maguindanao’s recent political history, since hardly anyone had dared go against its “political warlords” in previous elections.

Nearing into its destination, the convoy composed of six vehicles, has been “animalistically” killed by 100 militiamen identified to be from the Ampatuans.  Two other vehicles that were not part of the convoy but happened to be traveling on the same highway were also included in the barbaric act of political killing.

The incomprehensible bloodbath left a gruesome picture of the fate of the women at the hands of the killers. At least five of the female victims, four of them journalists, were raped before being killed. Practically all of the women had been shot in their genitals and beheaded. Mangudadatu’s youngest sister and aunt were both pregnant at the time of their murders. Mangudadatu’s wife’s private parts were slashed four times, after which they fired a bullet into it. The killers speared both of her eyes, shot both her breasts, cut off her feet, and fired into her mouth.

            Maguindanao massacre reminded us that in times of political turmoil, dictatorship, and fascism, women are not spared of state violence. Incident showed that the women victims were “victims twice over”.

            The women are courageous. They tried to do what they could to bring about change that they believed in. For that, they should be honored. And we should make sure that they are done justice and that no more women will have to be sacrificed in the altars of warlordism and feudal governance.       

Maguindanao massacre capped the 34 journalists who shed their blood in the name of press freedom and has caught strong reactions from both local and international media. Never in the history of journalism have the news media suffered such a heavy loss of life in one day making the Maguindanao massacre, the year of 2009 – the “killing season” and Philippines the world’s top dangerous place for journalists.

This, however, will not deter or discourage journalists from doing their job of upholding and bringing the truth to the people.

Underpaid and under threat, be that as it may, journalists will continue answering the call of upholding press freedom and will forever seek the truth for the interest of the people – the core of their beloved profession.

 

 President and the Martial Law in Maguindanao

            The Ampatuan clan has been important in delivering votes to Arroyo’s ruling Lakas Kampi-CMD coalition in recent elections. The Ampatuan father is the provincial chair of the coalition in Maguindanao. In the 2004 presidential elections, Arroyo won 69% of Maguindanao’s vote. Three years later, the party-backed coalition scored a 12-0 sweep of the senatorial elections in the province.

Could then this adage be associated with these two people, “Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are”?

Maguindanao massacre prompted President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to declare a state of emergency in Maguindanao, eminent as the declaration of Martial Law.  However, skepticisms regarding President’s action constructed some propositions that questioned the purpose of President GMA.

Issues were raised like, GMA declared Martial Law just to pretend she is acting on the problem. Secondly, she is just grabbing the opportunity to take advantage of the political scenario in Maguindanao to use Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in gathering all electoral paraphernalia for Gibo’s winning in the 2010 National election. Of course, if Gibo will win, together with the pursuance of Charter Change and GMA’s plan of running in Congress, she will be able to cling on the power forever as the Prime Minister materializing her claim that “public service” is already embedded on her DNAs.

If this could be so, with the alleged connection of AFP to the formation of warlordism in local political dynasties that for far too long has lorded over a province where the scale of savagery is matched only by the impunity, and where the extent of alleged corruption has hounded the ruling clan since it took over the reins of power, can we still trust the “peacemakers” of this country?

Maguindanao massacre puts us into a point of being critical with the armed forces. Do they really exist to protect us or does their existence be due merely for the chief’s self-interest?

Maguindanao massacre may just want us to determine who the real terrorist is; the rebels who are jaded with the government’s mad scramble of Philippine politics or the politicians playing their dirty games?

Martial Law in Mindanao did not answer police incompetence. The government is bound by law to resolve Maguindanao Massacre via due process and to ensure that all constitutional processes prevail. Malacanang attesting that Maguindanao is in a ’state of rebellion’ after a handful of arrests is a proof that authorities have exercised ineffectiveness and lack of political will.

 

The government just redirected public outrage against its inability to bring meaningful resolution to the gruesome crime, and its culpability by tolerating the Ampatuans’warlordism and creation of private armies. Martial law in Maguindanao did not resolve rampant warlordism in the province.

 

Justice for Political Killings

            2009 commemorated the 61th year of the adoption of the United Nations General Assembly of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), the human rights situation in the Philippines remains deplorable. The rights to life, liberty, security, self-determination and the right to develop are still far from being fully realized.

            60 victims are again added to more than 900 cases of human rights violations under the present administration documented by Human Rights group Karapatan. Extra-judicial killings, forced disappearances, and torture are among these cases.

The enforced disappearance of indigenous rights activist James Moy Balao was the first in the Cordillera since 2001. His enforced disappearance is one of many enforced disappearances of people’s activists all over the country in 2008. One of the worst cases of harassment/threat/intimidation was experienced by Irene Timbreza, spokesperson of the Abra Human Rights Advocates.

There was also an upsurge on the hindrance of the right to assembly in the city.

            Since none of the cases were given priority action by the government, violations continue.

            Attacks on journalists in the Philippines are undermining press freedom and putting the country’s democracy under siege.

            No administration in recent history has blamed media for the country’s troubles more than the Arroyo administration country’s administration. No administration has doggedly pursued libel and other cases against journalists. No administration has seen so many journalists getting killed or attacked in so short a time and showed little by way of prosecuting the perpetrators. No administration since Marcos has been as determined as this one in undermining the role of the press. No administration after Marcos has kept the public in the dark about issues that affect governance and public interest.

            We should halt the cases of human rights violations from increasing. We should give justice to their heroism.

 Enough are those tears shed by children who lost their parents. Enough are the hungers experienced by the family who lost their breadwinners. Enough are the innocent lives lost because of “power gluttony”. Enough.

Uphold our rights. Rebuild democracy. Resist human rights violation.

Let us not allow those political barbarians lead this nation into inexorable descent of absolute dehumanization.

 

Shatter the Culture of Impunity

            In the international law of human rights, impunity refers to the failure of bringing perpetrators of human rights violations to justice and, as such, itself constitutes a denial of the victims’ right to justice and redress.

Impunity is especially common in countries that lack a tradition of the rule of law, suffer from corruption or that have entrenched systems of patronage, or where the judiciary is weak or members of the security forces are protected by special jurisdictions or immunities.

Culture of immunity is indeed, evident in the Republic of the Philippines.

Of the recorded cases of human rights violations, only five cases of killings have seen conviction of killers, but none of the masterminds.

From analyses, majority of the human rights violation victims are activists who are very critical of the present administration. Could this be related as to why the government fails to give justice to them?

The violence of history led to the total breakdown of Philippine democracy.

Is there no room for mercy on the President’s heart? She’s a woman, right? How come then that it seems she has no heart, that she has no soul.

If ever she has no heart and no soul, then what is she? Does her kind deserve human rights?

            Only when the culture of impunity has been defeated can this nation proceed with the task of building peace and democracy in the Philippines.

References: College Editors’ Guild of the Philippines

                     National Union of Journalists Of the Philippines

                     Commission on Human Rights