Five years hence

Just as the country braces for the fifth anniversary of the infamous Ampatuan massacre comes the news that a key witness to the massacre was killed and another wounded.

Media reports said Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu confirmed on Wednesday that Dennix Sakal, former driver of Andal Ampatuan Sr., and Sukarno Butch Saudagal, allegedly the former bagman of former Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., were traveling on a motorcycle to Buluan town when they were shot around noontime.

So that is where we stand now: 58 dead –32 of them journalists – Five years, Zero Justice. One more witness killed. Another wounded.

Let’s put that in simpler terms: who among us even know where this case is now? How far away are we from a decision?

As we had feared, this most sensational media murder case has dragged on and has receded farther and farther away from public attention as it was dodged out of the front pages and the airwaves. It doesn’t matter that 32 of the dead were our fellow media workers; the nature of news is that it lives only for a minute, and then is super ceded by the next one. And the sad fact is, the nature of public outrage is also dependent on what’s news. We had thought, that given the shocking nature of this crime, the public would have been outraged to the point of shaking our institutions to hasten the wheels of justice.

No. It would seem like after the headlines changed, the shock and outrage that this mass murder caused across the land also dissipated and we all went back to the same old lethargic ways, content at being angry once year, around this time, when we march up and down the streets again, light candles, and perhaps scream at our institutions for being so slow.

 Of course we are not surprised. After all, the wheels of justice do move ever so slowly hereabouts. But yes, we are frustrated. We are dismayed. We are afraid.

Are we finally seeing a case so big in scale, so unprecedented in its character, we are rendered helpless? Are we finally seeing a case even our institutions, especially our judicial system and our media, with all their resources, cannot do anything about? 

If 32 media people can be killed in such as grisly manner, and so publicly at that, and we can barely prosecute the case in the speed it deserves, where then is justice?

While we are busy prosecuting thieving politicians -- and that is not a small achievement mind you -- why does it seem like we have left Ampatuan Massacre to  crawl on its own on our slow wheels of our justice system?

There is something amiss here, something illogical, something that doesn’t jive. We are so swift at bringing politicians to the bar of justice, and here we have a sensational crime that has shocked even the world and we watch it move ever…so…slowly.

And now, while the case moves very slowly, we are seeing the murder of vital witnesses, one of whom has already died. How many more witnesses are left out there, vulnerable to the forces that do not want to see justice in this case?

As the case drags on, what assurance do we have that those witnesses live on to tell their tale, to help put the pieces to this horrible, blood-soaked puzzle?

On Sunday, we shall once again light candles for our compatriots who were slain in the line of duty, perhaps shed a tear or two for the fact that we could have been in their places five years ago but for luck and fate. We shall say a prayer, of course, not only for them but for ourselves, who continue working under the system that cannot give them and many others like them the swift justice they deserve.*

back to top