Outraged public demands swift action vs butchers

By Angie M. Rosales
11/25/2009


An outraged public yesterday demanded the government take resolute action to bring to justice those behind the massacre of at least 46 people in Maguindanao which exposed a brutal culture of guns, greed and money that has poisoned the nation’s political system.

The murders were feared to be only the first of many killings ahead of next year’s national elections when several posts, including the presidency, will be up for grabs.

“This explosion of violence arises whenever there is an election,” said Samira Gutoc, one of the convenors of the Young Moro Professionals, a group helping the government in peace talks with armed Muslim groups in the South.

There is no room for massacres like this in our democracy. The event, which is beyond shocking, is testament to the reality that under this regime, there is a blatant disregard of the rule of law. Those responsible must be caught at all costs, former President Joseph Estrada said.

Indeed, dozens of people are killed each election period. Local political warlords have for generations competed for political power and the accompanying business riches that government posts offer.

These clans are well known to control private armies, who carry out assassinations and counter-attacks against rivals.

The proliferation of over 1.1 million unlicensed firearms, most of them in the hands of rebel groups or paramilitaries, contribute to the general lawlessness in many remote areas, according to police.

But while the problem plagues the entire country, experts say Maguindanao and other parts of the far southern island of Mindanao, where a Muslim insurgency has waged for decades, are particularly volatile.

“Politics in Mindanao is about ownership of power. Public office is perceived as a personal, clannish thing — a birth right, and they would spill blood for it,” Gutoc said.

She said she expected more violence in the fall-out of Monday’s massacre, with relatives of those killed expected to carry out vendetta killings, called “rido” in the local dialect.

“Retaliation is a natural course of events,” she said.

At least 22 people were murdered as they accompanied the wife of local official Esmael Mangudadatu to file his candidacy for governor of Maguindanao province and end the decades-old control of a rival Muslim clan.

The military said 100 heavily armed men under the control of his rival, Andal Ampatuan, seized the group of more than 40 people and later shot dead many of them.

Abhoud Syed Linga, executive director of the Institute of Bangsamoro Studies who has done research on clan fighting, said the phenomenon further complicates the Muslim insurgency that has claimed more than 150,000 lives since the 1970s.

“Some rido are sustained for generations,” Linga said. “The retaliation and counter-retaliation involve the whole family or clan.”

The vendetta killings, he said, are the “consequence of the absence of justice” for a perceived wrong.

“Among Muslims the value of justice is strong to the extent that it becomes a duty for family members to work for justice and reject oppression,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said authorities should take into custody Maguindano Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., who is reportedly in Manila and even visited Malacanang recently, and place him under interrogation.

“I am suggesting that he be detained as a material witness, considering that the reports of the military from Maguindanao indicate the ones involved or the militia men (who carried out the massacre were) in the employ of the Amapatuans. I will not call it arrest. Just hold him as a material witness, for questioning,” he said.

Chief Superintendent Sukarno Dicay, the deputy police chief of Maguindanao province was, meanwhile, sacked and detained yesterday after three of his deputies were implicated in the massacre, authorities said.

Witnesses said Dicay was present when gunmen allegedly linked to a political kingpin shot dead associates of a rival politician and journalists.

“He (Dicay) was seen at the scene of the crime together with some CAFGUs,” national police chief spokesman Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina said.

The CAFGU refers to the Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit militia, which is trained and armed by the government to fight local insurgencies.

Two other police officers seen with Dicay at the crime scene had also been sacked and detained, according to Espina.

He said Dicay’s boss and provincial police chief, Director Abusana Maguid, had also been sacked and detained “because of command responsibility”.

Pimentel also recommend the possibility of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) holding the May 2010 elections 10 days early in Maguindanao.

“Elections in Maguindanao should be held 10 days before the date of national and local elections so that all the agencies of government involved, including the maintenance of law and order, would be concentrated in Maguindanao and prevent massive, fraudulent manipulation of the polls such as what was done in the last elections,” he said.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the massacre was not just a blow to peace and stability in the Mindanao region, but a blow against the rule of law, freedom and democracy.

“The violence is unparalleled in recent history and is a bloody prelude to the 2010 elections in which the hopes of our people for a change for the better has been laid,” he said.

Instead of settling for another “political solution,” President Arroyo must now go hammer and tongs against the perpetrators of Monday’s gruesome massacre in Maguindanao province - and shoot the perpetrators if necessary, Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson issued this challenge to Arroyo, saying this is one test that her administration cannot afford to flunk.

“This is one test that I insist the Arroyo administration must pass for a change. The entire Filipino nation must act as one in challenging Mrs. Arroyo and all our law enforcement agencies to lose no time in arresting the perpetrators of this abominable act and if necessary shoot to immobilize them,” he said.

Members of the Ampatuan clan was credited for Arroyo’s poll “victory” in Maguindanao in 2004 and those of her senatorial bets in 2007.

Senator Francis ‘Kiko’ Pangilinan said if it can be established that the incident had the go signal of politicos, the COMELEC should institute disqualification cases against them. The COMELEC must set an example for all


Source: http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/20091125hed5.html