Bacolod media call for vigilance, justice on eve of Maguindanao massacre remembrance

BACOLOD CITY — Officers and members of the Negros Press Club (NPC) and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP)-Bacolod Chapter called on their colleagues to be vigilant as they demanded for “true justice” on the eve of the commemoration of the 2009 Maguindanao massacre.

NPC president Chrysee Samillano, NUJP-Bacolod Chapter head Marchel Espina, former Mansilingan councilor Andrea Jayme, and Gabriela-Negros secretary general Marden Jalando-on led the candle-lighting ceremony at the marker of the fallen journalists at the Bacolod Public Plaza on Friday.

Jayme, the younger sister of human rights lawyer Connie Jayme-Brizuela, one of the victims, appealed to President Duterte and the secretary of justice to help expedite the resolution of the case.

“A decade is long enough for the court to render a decision on the case despite the pieces of evidence presented,” she said.

“Some of the perpetrators have already died, while some have been freed from jail and there are policemen involved who have gone scot-free,” she added.

At least 58 people, including 32 journalists, were shot and killed in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao on November 23, 2009.

The journalists joined the convoy of then-Buluan vice mayor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu when the latter filed his certificate of candidacy for governor against Andal Ampatuan Jr.

Jayme hoped that the court’s decision would be favorable to the victims.

The NPC and NUJP-Bacolod Chapter, in a joint statement, demanded that the government bring the perpetrators to justice.

“Until now, no conviction has been handed down against the mastermind of the brutal attack, the powerful Ampatuan clan,” it said. /lzb