Falling back into my daily routine in Makati, I switched on the BBC after eating breakfast. One of the main headlines was actually about the Philippines, which is pretty rare. Intrigued, I turned up the volume and soon after started cringing at what I was hearing. Surprised that I hadn't heard the story until now, I decided to read more about it and to write about it, too.
A year ago today, 57 unarmed civilians were kidnapped and horribly murdered in the Maguindanao province of the Philippines. The victims were supporters of Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, and were on their way to file his certificate of candidacy for the Maguindanao governor elections in May.
The six vehicle convoy of lawyers, supporters, journalists, and relatives of the Vice Mayor was stopped en route by 100 armed men. They were kidnapped, brutally killed and buried in an isolated area. Evidence was found of beheading (in some cases by chainsaw), rape, genital mutilation, and other terrible tortures inflicted upon the victims. No one was spared. Mangudadatu's youngest sister and aunt, who were both present, were even pregnant at the time of their murders.
"This is a gruesome massacre of civilians unequalled in recent history," Jesus Dureza, Presidential Adviser for Mindanao, said in a statement. “There must be a total stop to this senseless violence and carnage." Unfortunately, such political corruption has existed in Maguindanao for a while, although never manifesting itself quite so violently until last year. The Ampatuan family, who is suspected of being responsible or at least heavily involved in the massacre, has been ruling and controlling the province as a virtual fiefdom for the past 20 years, holding almost all of the political posts in the area (read here for more information). Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, who hails from another influential clan, was a threat to this domination when he announced his desired candidacy for provincial governor, and he was plagued by hostage and death threats, which materialized in the massacre.
“Taking hostage someone about to file a certificate of candidacy is, by itself, a brazen challenge to efforts to strengthen our admittedly fragile democracy. And, if true that a local government official and a police officer are involved, then it says a lot about how far government has gone to eradicate the warlord politics that continues to reign over many of our provinces, very often the poorest and most underdeveloped," declared the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines in a statement.
Such comments on the fragility of the government in the Philippines have not been the first to be uttered and will not be the last. The poor country has been and continues to be beleaguered by corruption. From the awful Marcos regime (1965 - 1986) to today, its politics are tainted by embezzlement, bribery, violence, fraud, graft, etc. During the last 80's, the Guinness Book of Records even listed the Philippines as the most corrupt government in history. And in a 2007 survey, the Philippines was declared the most corrupt of 13 Asian countries and territories (which also included Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Japan and China) by 1,476 questioned expatriate executives. The Philippines scored 9.40, where a score of zero is the least corrupt and 10 is the most corrupt (BBC).
Things have improved in recent times, but it is clear that the Philippines still has a long way to go. The massacre, and the fact that even a year later that it has not been solved and justice has not been served, is evidence of that. Democracy is struggling to grow and take root in this country, but it's choked by the corruption that has infected every part of government, from the governmental bodies in the provinces like Maguindanao, to the Supreme Court, which was involved in a plagiarism scandal & handled it very, very poorly. This infection has existed for years, and it will take years to cure. The current administration under Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III has stated that they are up for the eradication of malpractices and mismanagement. Let's hope that, unlike their predecessors, they act on their words and produce positive results, steering the Philippines in the right direction.
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