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MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE, KINONDENA NG MGA MAMAMAHAYAG!
Narito ang mga pahayag ng ilan sa mga press groups hinggil sa karumal-dumal na pagpatay na naganap sa Maguindanao na kumitil sa buhay ng mahigit 50 katao kabilang na ang mahigit tatlumpung kapatid namin sa hanap-buhay. – Pinoy Reporter
National Union of Journalists of the
Maguindanao carnage strikes at the very foundations of democracy
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) demands justice for our colleagues and all the other victims of the November 23 carnage in Maguindanao province.
The Ampatuan massacre, which the military has confirmed was perpetrated by Shariff Aguak Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. and police Sr. Inspector Dicay, goes beyond the issue of freedom of the press and of expression and strikes at the very foundations of democracy.
Aside from the wife, relatives and supporters of Ismail Mangudadatu, who were on their way to file his certificate of candidacy to run as governor of Maguindanao, the slaughter also claimed the lives of at least 12 colleagues, according to reports from our chapters in
This incident not only erases all doubts about the Philippines being the most dangerous country for journalists in the world, outside of Iraq, it could very well place the country on the map as a candidate for a failed democracy.
Running for office and voting are as much exercises of free will and expression as covering and reporting the news.
We expect nothing less from this government than the swift apprehension and punishment of everyone involved in this gruesome assault on the national body politic, including the masterminds, regardless of who they might be.
Anything less would mean that the impunity that has emboldened those who would silence the press, staining this administration with the worst record of murdered journalists, has spread to embolden those who would subvert our democracy for their own selfish interests.
- NUJP members
National Press Club (NPC)
The National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC) and Alyansa ng Filipinong Mamamahayag (Afima) strongly denounce the abduction and subsequent killing of several individuals, including members of the media, in what appears to be another case of politics-related violence in Maguindanao.
The incident came as a humiliating slap on the face of efforts to put an end to the culture of impunity that has caused the deaths of scores of journalists.
While we mourn and sympathize with the families of all victims of this dastardly act, we give special concern to members of the press who were killed.
There is no word strong enough to describe this barbarism. The perpetrators will not heed to reason, so we call on the government to leave no stone unturned in delivering justice to their victims.
The harshest of punishment should be leveled against the suspects, regardless of their political and personal standing.
The NPC will extend assistance to the bereaved family of the media victims.
Please join us in our indignation rally tomorrow (24 November 2009). Assemble by 5:30 PM at Quezon City Police Department (QCPD) Press Office along Edsa near Kamuning and walk to
Please wear black.
- NPC members
Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC)
“The 2010 elections is futile when people are viciously murdered for the sake of political expediency.
“We strongly urge authorities to bring the full force of the law in hunting down those responsible for these gruesome murders. Government must leave no stone unturned in efforts to bring these perpetrators – regardless of who they are – to justice, and make them accountable for this deplorable crime they have committed. Justice must be served,”
- MOPC members (excerpt)
Reporters without Borders
At least 12 journalists were killed today in Maguindanao province (on the southern
“Never in the history of journalism have the news media suffered such a heavy loss of life in one day,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We convey our condolences and sympathy to all journalists in the
The press freedom organisation added: “We have often condemned the culture of impunity and violence in the
The massacre took place a few hours after around 50 gunmen led by Andal Ampatuan Jr., the mayor of Shariff Aguak (a municipality in Maguindanao province), and a police inspector identified solely by the name of Dicay kidnapped members of a large convoy of supporters of Esmael Mangudadatu, an Ampatuan clan opponent who wants to run for governor.
The convoy of Mangudadatu supporters, accompanied by journalists, had been on its way to an electoral bureau to file documents related to his candidacy, which the gunmen wanted to prevent. The fatalities included Mangudadatu’s wife, sister and other relatives. The governor’s son is also alleged to have been involved in the massacre.
Nonoy Espina, the vice-president of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP). Told Reporters Without Borders: “The government must without question bring those responsible for this massacre to justice, not just the killers but also the masterminds, whoever they are.”
- Reporters without Borders
Southeast Asian Press
The Southeast Asian Press Alliance condemns in the strongest possible terms the abduction and massacre of at least 36 Filipinos in the southern Philippine
It is widely believed that the horrific episode was brought about by a bitter feud among entrenched political clans in Maguindanao. Media and authorities have been quick to tag the massacre as election-related, certainly among the worst that has been seen in the
SEAPA calls on the Philippine government to do all that it must to halt the violence and bring the murderers to justice. As swiftly as they must act, however, the Philippine leaders must also, once and for all, demonstrate its accountability for the larger toxic climate that suffocates Filipinos and Philippine democracy.
The government must own up to what it has allowed to fester: an environment of impunity that had already taken hundreds of lives, including that of hundreds of journalists, long before the recent Maguindanao tragedy took place.
Even the warlordism that must be fought and condemned in Maguindanao is but a symptom of what truly has Filipinos and their democracy beleaguered.
The perpetrators behind the most heinous acts in Maguindanao must be brought to justice. Immediately. Failure to act, we are afraid, would not only be an indictment of Philippine leadership. It will be nothing new.
“The
The clear role that warlordism plays in this, one of the bloodiest episodes in recent Philippine history, should not absolve the government of its accountability for the larger environment it has tolerated, patronized and therefore nurtured.
- Roby Alampay, SEAPA Executive Director
Philippine Press Institute (PPI)
"The perpetrators should be arrested, prosecuted, and, after trial, punished. We must put a stop to the culture of impunity in the killing of journalists and make the country safe again for media people,"
- Isagani Yambot, PPI chairman (excerpt)
Samahang Plaridel
“No less than a swift and decisive action from Malacañang can prevent further escalation of violence that already snuffed the lives of local mediamen who were simply doing their jobs when caught in the crossfire,” the group said.
“Such politically-motivated heinous crimes demand a critical response not just to serve justice to the victims' families but more importantly, to put a stop to the culture of violence in
- Samahang Plaridel members (excerpt)
Malacanang Press Corps (MPC)
We, officers and members of the Malacañang Press Corps seek justice for our colleagues, who were massacred in the line of duty in Maguindanao. The incident is terrible and sickening,”
- MPC members (excerpt)
Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR)
With strong indications that it is politically motivated, the November 23 abduction and killing of over 40 people, at least 12 of them journalists, in Maguindanao is a new low even for the
That at least 12 of the over 40 people killed, several of whom were beheaded, and the women among them raped, were journalists is bad enough.
The November 23 killings have increased the number of journalists killed in the line of duty this year from 3 to 15 and added so many more to the 81 already killed in the
But as mean, as idiotic and as petty as the aim was, the killings are likely to trigger a cycle of reprisals and counter-reprisals that will raise even higher the levels of violence in Maguindanao, quite possibly in the rest of Mindanao, and even the entire Philippines itself. Violence has a way of begetting further violence, as Philippine experience demonstrates.
Indeed, the Maguindanao attack was not only an attack on a local politician, on his supporters, and on journalists. It was also an attack on what's left of Philippine democracy, in which free and peaceful elections have never been as urgent an imperative as today. Only the quickest and most decisive response in terms of arresting and bringing the perpetrators to court can prevent the November 23 killings from turning into one more incident to inspire the killers--of journalists, political activists, local officials, priests, lawyers and judges--who roam this country with impunity to keep on killing.
But Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza has recommended instead the declaration of a state of emergency in Maguindanao, in tacit admission that neither the military nor the Philippine National Police can cope with the situation without being armed with special powers.
We reject that supposed solution as an invitation to further violence as well as to the further abuse of the citizenry. The local military and police are widely known to be partial to certain groups, and are likely to harden that partisanship as election day approaches. Indeed, policemen are said to have been part of the group of 100 that waylaid the convoy the slain journalists were accompanying.
A state of emergency will provide a convenient cover for military and police partisanship, among other reasons because it will provide them a legal basis for preventing the media from covering the impact on the citizenry of the political rivalries, based on clan disputes, that haunt Maguindanao and other areas of Mindanao as well as the overall conduct of the elections there.
We affirm that it is the media's crucial task to provide the citizenry the information it needs so it can make such decisions as to who to vote for as well as others related to its well-being and safety. We reiterate, however, that no story is worth the life of a single journalist. Journalists must take the greatest care to assure their own safety, and to evaluate the risks involved before covering any event of public relevance anywhere.
Elections are especially perilous for journalists. Election times awaken the most brutal instincts. They feed the bloodlusts of warring clans in what's essentially a feudal society still, and stoke the fires of elite contention for power and the opportunities for graft it provides.
Journalists must thus take care to steer clear of partisanships likely to transform them into casualties of the clash between political parties and feuding clans, and to affirm through their work and actions their sole loyalty to the professional and ethical imperatives of fairness and truth telling.
We mourn the death of our countrymen and colleagues in the hands of the barbaric horde that's likely to be under the pay of the local politician's rivals. But we must also remind the living never to underestimate the reality of the threats to their lives and well-being that have become common place in a country ruled by a regime unable to discharge, for both journalists and ordinary citizens, that most basic of State responsibilities, protecting every man, woman and child's right to life and to a life without fear.
- CMFR
Amen sa lahat ng mga pahayag na ito!
- Pinoy Reporter
P.S. Kinondena din ng mga sumusunod na media organizations ang insidente: Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ), Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP), at Philippine Center for Photo Journalism.
