In Maguindanao, spared journalists are thankful for being late

Sometimes, it pays to be late.

Such was the case for journalist Joseph Jubelag, a Maguindanao-based correspondent for the Manila Standard Today, who signed up for covering what local media there considered as a major news event.

On Monday November 23, the relatives of Buluan town Vice Mayor Datu Esmail "Toto" Mangudadatu had set forth on a journey to the provincial capital, Shariff Aguak, to file a certificate of candidacy on his behalf.

Toto, who belongs to a powerful political clan in southern Philippines, was planning to run as governor of Maguindanao, which is the turf of the Ampatuans – another powerful clan and a known rival.

It was clearly a tinderbox scenario.
 

Jubelag and more than 30 other journalists rode with the convoy to the capital town. While on the road to Shariff Aguak, however, Jubelag and his other colleagues riding in one of the vans decided to break off from the group.

Aquiles Zonio, a Philippine Daily Inquirer correspondent in Mindanao who was with Jubelag in the same van, recalled the incident.

"Si Joseph, nakikiusap na dumaan muna kami sa hotel, kasi kukunin niya raw ang laptop niya at mag-c-CR siya sandali," Zonio recalled in a radio interview.

(Joseph was requesting that we go back to our hotel because he had to fetch his laptop and needed to use the bathroom.)

Despite knowing that they might miss the main event and end up having no story to file, Jubelag’s group took their chances and stopped over at the hotel.

Zonio later found out that Jubelag insisted on going back to the hotel not only to pick up stuff he forgot, but particularly because he was having doubts about the trip.

"Iyong assessment ko lang sa situation. Kasi, bago kami umalis, sinabi na ng Mangudadatu na hindi pumunta ang military at PNP para sa security (That was how I assessed the situation, because before we set off, the Mangudadatus already told us that the military and PNP did not provide any security)," Jubelag said.

"Inisip ko kasi ang aming safety (That’s because I was thinking about our own safety)," he added.

The two journalists said the Mangudadatu camp earlier made separate requests to the military and the police to provide escorts for the convoy.

The provinces of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat, and Cotabato City - all shaded in red - were placed under a state of emergency after the death of at least 22 people in Maguindanao. Google Maps

On both occasions, their requests were "turned down," Zonio said. Nevertheless, the convoy pushed through with the trip.

During Zonio's hotel stopover, building personnel told him about two unidentified men who had asked for the names of all the journalists joining the convoy.

When the hotel staff members were unable to produce any list, the two men left. But the odd incident fuelled Jubelag and Zonio's fears that they were under surveillance and were not safe in the convoy.

"Sabi ko, huwag na tayo tumuloy dahil parang hindi maganda ang sitwasyon (I told them, let’s not proceed because the situation doesn’t look good)," Zonio said.

Zonio, Jubelag, and a third journalist not identified in the radio interview, all agreed to just stay in the hotel and wait for their colleagues to return from Shariff Aguak.

The three must have spent time thinking of other ways to write the story that they were sure to miss.

As it turned out, none of their colleagues returned alive.

The three reporters would later find out that almost the entire convoy numbering almost 50 people, including their media colleagues, were stopped by about a hundred armed men, and then brutally slaughtered like animals by the roadside.

Now, the three surviving reporters will have to write that thankless story anyway, if only to honor their colleagues who paid with their lives. – JV, GMANews.TV