Memorial day for EJK victims proposed

A bill that would declare Nov. 23 a memorial day for all victims of extrajudicial killings (EJKs), including the victims of the Maguindanao massacre and of President Duterte’s brutal war on drugs, was introduced in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

On the seventh anniversary of the Maguindanao massacre, Kabayan Rep. Harry Roque filed House Bill No. 4502, which would  declare Nov. 23 “A National Day of Commemoration for all Victims of Extralegal Killings.”

Fifty-eight people, 32 of them journalists, were killed by soldiers, policemen and militiamen allegedly led by Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao province, on Nov. 23, 2009.

Roque’s bill described the massacre as the “worst single attack on press freedom in recorded history and the worst spate of election-related violence in the Philippines since the martial law era.”

Drug war victims

“This will also include the more than 3,000 who have been killed in the drug war,” Roque told a news conference in the House.

More than 4,000 people, mostly small-time users and pushers, have been killed by police and unknown assailants since Mr. Duterte took office on June 30.

There is a need to “pass a law that would set aside a day to commemorate victims of extralegal killings, including the victims of the [Maguindanao] massacre, to stress [the government’s] resolve to fight impunity and to honor the memory of those who perished by rejecting impunity as a state policy,” Roque said in the introduction of his bill.

The wives and mothers of the massacre victims, all of whom lamented the slow progress of the case in court, attended Roque’s news conference.

“The [Maguindanao] massacre shows that our criminal justice system is not working. This is not peculiar to one administration. The Ampatuans are allies of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Former President Aquino promised justice and Leila de Lima used the Maguindanao massacre to advance her cause for human rights but nothing happened,” Roque said.

He said the families of the victims hoped to find justice during the term of President Duterte.

“All we need is one conviction to send them all to Muntinlupa,” Roque said, referring to New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City. He remains the families’ lawyer.

Roque appealed to Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 to resolve the case before she moves to the Court of Appeals.

There are rumors that Reyes has been promoted to appellate justice.

“She deserves to be promoted but the consideration that we need is justice. The case will need closure and a new judge would cause tremendous delay to the case,” Roque said.

Students hold protests

Journalism students of University of San Agustin in Iloilo City lit candles near the main gate of the school on Wednesday to mark the seventh anniversary of the massacre.

Journalists joined the commemoration, lamenting the slow trial of the killers.

“Failure to bring justice to slain and harassed journalists is one of the worst, if not the worst, kind of tragedy and irony a democracy like the Philippines can suffer,” said Francis Ablan Angelo, president of the Iloilo provincial capitol press corps. —WITH A REPORT FROM NESTOR P. BURGOS JR.