The Story of the Thirty and Twenty Seven

Two years ago was the darkest time for the media. Two years ago, fifty seven died. Two years ago, justice was not served… up until today.

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Remember the hole.

And the pens that fell from the hands of people whose families were made incomplete, whose bodies were left mangled further crushed by vehicles not more than six feet under, and whose stories were not known because of political interests. They are the thirty, who died last November 23, 2009, whose names we shall keep on remembering until we dig our own pits.

It all happened in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao during pre-election period when every man who aspired to be the greatest was filing his certificate of candidacy. Esmael Mangudadatu, then vice-mayor of Buluan, was one of those men. He believed he would be successful if he used women and journalists to protect his bid and to make sure it was filed peacefully. Unfortunately, he was wrong as every person in that eight-vehicle convoy received fatal blows; his wife included, despite forewarning him via phone call about the private army of Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan, Jr. stopping them on their way.

This was what happened: They were told to swallow the certificates of candidacy that they brought and at ten in the morning, bullets punctured the skin of those thirty and twenty seven more. Witnesses added that it happened fast. They say gun fires were part of the sounds of everyday life, and it was enough to maintain the silence. The people who live in the shanty located near the place of carnage heard the shots whilst farming, but it did not matter to them. Numbed by the sound, I supposed?

And there they were. By the cliffside were the fifty seven men and women who were left dead in vehicles, on the ground, and under the ground. Mangudadatu thought that they were immune from violence, but they all bled on the earth. Not a single life spared.

Thirty men and women from the media were murdered that Monday, the most number of deaths in the history of journalism.

Some were shot. Others were left with their zippers open; some women had their vaginas poked by a twig. Some bodies were bloated. Others’ faces were smashed. Some had to be dug out from a pit. And the others were either lying in the car or on the ground. Newspapers covered their visages; the same publications some of them worked for.

We used to feel safe when journalists were around. A safer world compared to having armed men deceiving to protect you. They guarded what was truth to most of us, and they assured that the worst will not ever occur. But November 23 marked that journalists were not as powerful as most of us thought they were. Like ordinary citizens, they are easy targets of government-purchased firearms and a backhoe.

“And how did the former government respond to this?” you might ask.

By eight in the evening that same day, the president without her caged shoes called for the military and the police, through AFP acting Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno, to pursue the people behind the manslaughter.

The next day, the little queen placed Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato City under the State of Emergency; and more pits were excavated.

November 26, at the Pink and Peach Capitol, Presidential Adviser Jesus Dureza arrived with two helicopters to fetch Andal Ampatuan, Jr. who was said to have turned himself in. He was sent to the Tuna Capital for questioning, and then later sent to Manila to be detained at the National Bureau of Investigation. His charges? Seven counts of multiple murder.

 

On the 29th, Police Regional Office- 12 reported that there were rebels deployed in Maguindanao, allegedly consolidated by the Ampatuans. This ignited fear in the south.

December first, the Department of Justice charges Andal Ampatuan, Jr. with 25 counts of murder. Two days later, Versoza announces in a press conference that search warrants for the houses of Ampatuan, Jr., Ampatuan Sr., and Akman Ampatuan were issued by Francis Palmones, Regional Trial Court Judge in Kidapawan City.

More evidences came out pointing to the involvement of the Ampatuans (and the government’s). Finally on December 5, 2009, Martial Law was proclaimed in Maguindanao. And as if that was not enough, we live today without justice served to the fifty seven, who died; thirty of whom were from the media.

The government wished that Andal Ampatuan, Jr. be treated fairly; however, what about the people found dead in Sitio Masalay in Shariff Aguak? There was nothing fair about detaching these people from their families through death. There was nothing fair about those bloated bodies that resembled overripe watermelons that droves of flies devoured.  There was nothing fair about leaving this incident as it is, as if it never happened, as if the lives that were lost were stones you just cast in a lake. Call it retributive justice, but forgiveness is earned. You ask for it.

It is weird when you wake up with the sun one day, but you realize that it’s cold. You want to know why, but the answers do not show up even after the sun has decayed. They say we just have to be vigilant and keep remembering. But at some point you ask yourself, what is the value of remembering the story of the thirty and the twenty seven men and women? The answers we want do not show up so we just… remember them.

These are the names: Benjie Adolfo, Rubello Bataluna, Jhoy Duhay and Ronnie Perante of the Gold Star Daily; Arturo Betia, John Caniban, Noel Decina, Rey Merisco and Fernando Razon of Periodico Ini; Mark Gilbert Arriola, Eugene Dohillo and Victor Nuñez of UNTV; Romeo Jimmy Cabillo and Reynaldo Momay of the Midland Review; Bienvenido Legarte, Jr. and Joel Parcon of Prontiera News; Marites Cablitas and Rosell Morales of News Focus; Marife Montaño and Gina Dela Cruz of Saksi News; Napoleon Salysay of the Mindanao Gazette; Lindo Lupogan of the Mindanao Daily Gazette; Henry Araneta of DZRH; Santos Gatchalian of DXGO; Hannibal Cachuela of Punto News; Ernesto Maravilla ofBombo Radyo; Alejandro Reblando of the Manila Bulletin; Lea Dalmacio of Socsargen News; Ian Subang of Socsargen Today; and Andres Teodoro of the Central Mindanao Inquirer.

“Those who are dead are not dead; they’re just living in my head.” – 42, Coldplay

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First published in HIMATI.

Video courtesy of HIMATI.

Photos from Move.PH and Ms Patricia Evangelista.

First Commemoration of the Maguindanao Massacre in UP Mindanao could be viewed on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQvg-pcBiJs&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=SP8C439CB21B0F6AB0