By Joy Louise T. Evidente | The Red Chronicles
Photo by CEGP-NCR | The Red Chronicles
A desperate attempt to remain in power cost fifty-eight lives.
On the morning of November 23, 2009, a convoy of vehicles carrying women, journalists, and lawyers headed to the provincial capital of Maguindanao to file Esmael Mangudadatu’s Certificate of Candidacy for Governor of Buluan.
As they passed the checkpoint in Sitio Malating, Barangay Salman, Ampatuan, Maguindanao, a group of armed men led by Andal Ampatuan Jr. intercepted and forcibly drove them to the place of their death.
On the same day, authorities discovered in a mass grave a vehicle and fifty-seven mutilated and mangled corpses bearing multiple gunshot wounds. The Provincial Government of Maguindanao used a backhoe to dig the holes intended to hide the sins of corruption.
On November 24, 2009, Malacañang called the massacre “an incident between two families in Mindanao” but it was not until December 1, 2009, that prosecutors filed 25 counts of murder against Ampatuan Jr. and December 2 when prosecutors indicted Ampatuan Sr. and several members of his clan. Authorities charged at least 198 suspects with murder.
Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera requested that the case be transferred from Cotabato City to Quezon City due to the inaction of the local courts in Maguindanao. The case was first raffled to Quezon City Judge Luisito Cortez, who refused to try the case, fearing for the safety of his family. It was subsequently assigned to Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes.
Over the course of a decade, the court saw 357 witnesses and 424 trial days, but only 101 of the accused stood before the court for the trial. One of the witnesses was also shot dead after he spoke to reporters about being a designated gunman.
Only 101 of the accused stood before the court for the trial, with Andal Ampatuan Sr. unfortunately unable to face Lady Justice for his crimes as he had died from complications brought about by liver cancer in 2015.
On December 19, 2019, ten years after the massacre, Judge Solis-Reyes rendered the guilty verdict to both brothers, former ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan and former Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., and the clan’s patriarch, former Maguindanao Governor Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr., for 57 counts of murder, along with Datu Anwar Sajid Ulo Ampatuan, Datu Anwar Ipi Ampatuan Jr., and 23 others.
The court found 15 more individuals guilty as accessories to the crime, while it acquitted Sajid Islam Ampatuan and Sajid Islam Datu Akmad Ampatuan Sr.
Charges against the accused for the death of journalist Reynaldo Momay were dropped due to a lack of evidence that he was one of those killed in the massacre.
In 2024, 80 of the co-accused remain at large, leaving the families of the victims fearing for their safety.
To this day, the Ampatuans’ appeal for the guilty verdict remains pending before the Supreme Court, while the families of the slain journalists have yet to receive compensation.
Note: This article was first published in Volume XVIII, Issue I print edition of The Red Chronicles.