Cebu media join commemoration of Ampatuan massacre

CEBU media joined their counterparts across the country in commemorating the second anniversary of the Ampatuan massacre with a mass held at the Sto. Rosario Church in P. Del Rosario Street, Cebu City yesterday afternoon.

The Cebu Federation of Beat Journalists (CFBJ) offered a Mass for the repose of the souls of the 32 journalists who died in the massacre.  “We hope that justice will be served no matter how slow its wheels are turning,” CFBJ President Elias Baquero told reporters.

He said the federation prays for speedy justice so the families can have closure and move on with their lives. Earl Bonachita, president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Cebu chapter, said the perpetrators have at least been identified.

“It’s the slow grinding of the wheels of justice that is the picture now. We are thankful that at least the perpetrators are brought to the courts and made to face the charges,” he said.

Two years after the  massacre occurred, more than half of the nearly 200 suspects remain at large.

“We know that it is not easy to get justice. We need to work for it, it is not voluntarily offered or easily obtained,” said Grace Morales, widow of journalist Rosell Morales and sister of another reporter slain in the massacre, Marites Cablitas.

“The families need to act, to remain strong and to continue the fight,” she said in an interview.

“It has been two years but we have not yet obtained full justice.”

The focus of the trial is Andal Ampatuan Sr., patriarch of the powerful clan in southern Maguindanao province, former governor of an autonomous Muslim region and a political ally of ex-president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Victims’ relatives blame former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for a culture of impunity in southern Mindanao  and filed a lawsuit against her, claiming she could have prevented the killings, although she has condemned the massacre and denied any prior knowledge.

Ampatuan is among 96 suspects in custody being tried on murder charges, including his sons, other relatives and former government-armed militiamen under his wing. They have pleaded not guilty.

Still at large are an additional 100 suspects, including former police, military personnel and civilian militia members linked to the Ampatuans, believed to be hiding in Maguindanao and elsewhere in Mindanao.

Gunmen allegedly led by Andal Ampatuan Jr., a former town mayor, stopped members of the Mangudadatu clan, the Ampatuans’ political rivals, as they traveled to file for candidacy in regional elections.

They were led to a hilltop clearing, gunned down and hastily buried in mass graves alongside their vehicles, which were crushed by a backhoe.

“They were so brazen and thought nothing could stop them.”  The dead included at least 31 media staffers covering the Mangudadatus, making it the worst-ever single massacre of journalists.

The charge sheet lists 57 victims but the body of journalist Reynaldo Momay, who was also part of the convoy, was never found. Correspondent Rhea Ruth V. Rosell and Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol with an AP report