On November 23, 2009, 58 people, including 32 journalists, were brutally massacred while travelling in a political convoy on the southern island of Mindanao. The victims were shot and buried in mass graves after their convoy was ambushed while travelling to the town of Shariff Aguak to register the gubernatorial candidacy documents for Buluan town vice mayor Esmail ‘Toto’ Mangudadatu.
Despite sustained international and national pressure and countless campaigns, the families of the murdered civilians still await full justice from a protracted, legal process and a failure of investigators to locate all the accused. In the years since, several key prosecution witnesses have been murdered, some of the accused have died, and 83 of more than 200 suspects still remain at large.
A breakthrough came in December 2019 when a Quezon City Regional Trial Court convicted Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr, his brothers Andal Ampatuan Jr and Zaldy Ampatuan, and 24 other principal suspects guilty beyond reasonable doubt on 57 counts of murder. The three brothers, identified as the key orchestrators of the bloody massacre, were given the maximum sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole. To date, only 44 of the 200 massacre suspects have been successfully convicted.
But both NUJP and IFJ take this day to remind the world of the failings of the wheels of justice in the country which is one of the world’s most deadly for journalists and media workers. Suspects remain unaccounted for and convictions were only handed down for 57 of the 58 murders. Critically, the court failed to consider the murder of journalist Reynaldo Momay whose body is yet to be found.
On November 20, the NUJP held its annual memorial mass at the Forest Lake Memorial Park in Mindanao’s General Santos City. Today, on November 23, the NUJP will also hold a march and candle-lighting ceremony at the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication in Quezon City, with further commemorations planned for Manila, Legazpi City, and beyond.
Journalists and media workers in the Philippines today continue to face high levels of violence and killings. On May 31, broadcaster Cresenciano Bundoquin was the latest journalist to be murdered outside his home near Manila. Misamis Occidental radio anchor Juan Jumalon was also fatally shot on November 5. So too, the October 2022 murder of Percy Lapid, allegedly orchestrated by senior government officials, has languished before the courts.
On November 2, 2023, the IFJ marked the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, calling on United Nations (UN) member states to protect the rights of journalists and highlighted the urgent need of a binding convention to protect media professionals.
The NUJP said that although the 2009 massacre has faded from the headlines, “the media community has not forgotten”.
The NUJP said:“Although there were convictions in the 2019 decision on the case, this is only partial justice until the convictions are final and victims' families receive compensation for the loss of their loved ones. Justice must also include the official recognition of photojournalist Reynaldo Momay as among the 58 victims of the massacre . . . Justice in this case and in other attacks on journalists since then will help send the message that attacks on the press are unacceptable in a democracy and will help create a safer media landscape in the Philippines.”
The IFJ said:“Despite 14 years passing since the tragic events of November 23, 2009, the killers of journalists remain at large and justice continues to be denied. We call on the government of Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and authorities to end the suffering for the families of those killed.”