Duterte to meet families of Maguindanao massacre victims

President Rodrigo Duterte is set to meet this Thursday the families of the victims of the Maguindanao massacre, Malacañang said.

“The families of the victims will meet with President Duterte today (Thursday),” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said aboard the Metro Rail Transit-3 (MRT-3).

November 23 marks the 8th anniversary of the Maguindanao Massacre, where 58 persons, among them 32 media workers, were brutally killed in 2009. Also dubbed as the Ampatuan Massacre, it was also deemed as the world’s worst attack against the press.

A convoy of the media workers and the wife and relatives of former Buluan town Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu was traveling towards Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao province when they were intercepted by armed supporters of Ampatuan family. They were later gunned down on a top of a hill by the gunmen that also comprised policemen.

The group was supposed to file the certificate of candidacy of Mangudadatu, who was set to run for governor during the May 2010 elections.

READ: 8 years after Maguindanao massacre, fear still lingers

To date, only 115 of the total 198 suspects had been arrested, including Andal Ampatuan Sr., a former governor of Maguindanao and the alleged mastermind of the carnage. Ampatuan Sr. died in July 2015 while confined at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute in Quezon City.   /kga