Slow pace of justice dismays int’l media group

THE WORLD is dismayed at the slow pace of justice in the Maguindanao massacre.

“Justice remains elusive,” the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (Ifex) said in a statement.

Ifex is a Montreal-based network of 104 organizations campaigning for freedom of expression in 65 countries. In the Philippines, it counts as member the media development group Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility.

Ifex pointed out that the “glacial pace of the [legal] proceedings” of the massacre case was contributing to the “ingrained culture of impunity” in the country.

Such a culture of impunity “not only denies justice to the victims of this [massacre] case” but also sows fear in society, hence “muzzles the media and promotes self-censorship,” it added.

Throughout the Ifex network, Nov. 23 is commemorated as International Day to End Impunity.

Since Nov. 2, the Philippines has shared with Mexico, Ukraine and Yemen the impunity spotlight throughout the world in a three-week campaign by international groups to call attention to the grave problems faced by journalists in these countries.

No one has yet been convicted for involvement in the Maguindanao massacre. A total of 193 people are accused as having a role in the crime, 18 of whom carry the surname Ampatuan. Some 80 people are still at large.

Dismiss 62 policemen

Desperate for some measure of justice, relatives of journalists slain in Maguindanao turned to the National Police Commission (Napolcom) to press for a small victory—the dismissal of the 62 policemen indicted in the case.

On Monday, five families represented by lawyer Harry Roque went to the Napolcom center in Quezon City to reiterate their appeal for the resolution of the administrative case they filed in 2010 against the accused policemen.

One of the widows who went to the Napolcom, Erlyn Umpad, wife of slain camera man Macdelbert Arriola, started to cry as she recounted her struggle to obtain justice, while raising a son that never got a chance to know his father.

“The case has dragged on for six years. My son is also now six years old. And justice still remains elusive,” Umpad said, tears streaming down her face.

Umpad’s son, Japeth, was only more than a week old when his father was killed. “Before I came here, he asked me ‘Mama, where are you going? Are you going to another hearing?’” Sumpad said.

“To the people who made promises, where are you? Please fulfill them. We are not from here (Metro Manila). We’re from Mindanao. We have families and we put out money for this. So please fulfill your promises,” the widow said.

At Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) in Manila, widows of the slain journalists asked the public not to forget the massacre.

“I was touched to see my husband’s picture here,” Noemi Parcon, wife of Pronterra Balita publisher Joel Parcon, told PUP students.

She greeted the students with a smile but before she could proceed, she paused to take a deep breath. But she still failed to hold back her tears.

She was one of the five widows who spoke for the commemoration of the massacre, organized by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).

“It’s been that long, so I thought I would no longer cry,” said Monette Salaysay, widow of Mindanao Gazette journalist Napoleon Salaysay. “But until now, what happened is still a nightmare to me.”

Iloilo City

In Iloilo City, journalists on Monday also decried the slow pace of the Ampatuan massacre trial, saying this has helped encourage more attacks against the media.

In a forum to mark the sixth anniversary of the massacre, media groups called on the government and law enforcement agencies to end the culture of impunity through swift and comprehensive investigation of all cases.

“The government is powerless or inept if it cannot stop or resolve media killings. [Unresolved cases] will only embolden attacks against the media,” Francis Allan Angelo, president of the Iloilo Press Club, told about 40 journalists and journalism students at the forum at the Casa Real, the restored old provincial capitol.

Representatives of Kapisanan ng mga Broadcaster sa Pilipinas, Iloilo Provincial Capitol Press Corps and the Iloilo chapter of NUJP joined the forum.

John Paul Tia, station manager of radio station dyOK Aksyon Radyo Iloilo, said the culture of impunity against journalists was encouraging other attacks.

On Thursday, unidentified men, several of whom were armed, tried to forcibly enter the premises of Aksyon Radyo Iloilo at the Carlos Uy Building on Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. Avenue in Mandurriao district.

They failed to enter the locked gate leading to the third floor office of the station. They were believed to have removed and brought with them a closed-circuit TV camera, but footage from the camera clearly showed the faces of the men.