Victims' kin visit site of Maguindanao massacre

A Philippine eagle soared as journalists and advocacy groups drove past sleepy towns in Maguindanao province on a calm Saturday afternoon. Their destination: the hilly and desolate Sitio Tugapok, Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town - the site of a brutal massacre two months ago wherein more than 50 people were shot to death with high-powered firearms, and their bodies violated. Bulatlat.com, an alternative online community, said in its Facebook page that more than 300 people joined the trip to commemorate the Nov. 23 massacre of 57 people, most of them journalists. Among those who participated in the event were media groups, human rights organizations, lawyer groups, members of the Catholic Church, sectoral and regional organizations, and party-list organizations. Mission “One of the primary objectives of the National Interfaith Mission for Peace and Justice in Maguindanao is to accompany the victims to the massacre site. As a human rights organization, we consider this as part of their psycho-social therapy. To be able to face their greatest fear and overcome it, is a way of moving on," Lovella de Castro, secretary general of human rights group Karapatan, said in a statement. Also present in the commemoration were Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, a former journalist; and Gabriela Rep. Luz Ilagan. The caravan lit candles and placed flowers at the exact site where the perpetrators - believed to be members of the powerful Ampatuan clan and their private armed group - tried to bury the bodies of their victims. The groups also released white balloons as an expression of their desire for peace based on justice. A bamboo marker with the word “justice" was erected at the site. Cry for justice “May the victims rest in peace while we pursue justice," De Castro said. Thee National Interfaith Mission for Peace and Justice in Maguindanao will be held from January 23 to 25 to commemorate the massacre and to investigate the plight of and give humanitarian assistance to almost 1,000 civilian evacuees whose lives have yet to return to normal as a result of the massacre. “It is clear that the imposition of martial law in Maguindanao has brought more fear to the lives of the people. And although it was already lifted, they will continue to live in fear as long as private armies—and Executive Order 546 that legalizes their creation—exist," De Castro said. Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat province, and Cotabato City were placed under martial law last Dec. 4 to 12 as government security forces hunted those who were responsible for the massacre. Several members of the Ampatuan clan, including its patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr., a former governor of Maguindanao, are now in government custody facing charges ranging from rebellion to multiple murder. - with Nadezhda Tanola/KBK, GMANews.TV