Slain journalist's daughter: 'I've gotten used to it'

Myrna Reblando, widow of a journalist slain in the November 23, 2009 massacre in Ampatuan, Maguindanao province, might have been sobbing the entire time photos of the victims’ bodies were being shown inside a Quezon City courtroom on Thursday. But beside her was 14-year-old daughter Julia Mae, who – unlike her mother – sat silently at the gallery, gloomy but dry-eyed, showing no signs of breaking down. "Nasanay na rin po kasi ako [I simply got used to it]," the young girl told reporters during a break in Thursday's proceedings when asked why she didn't seem as emotional as her mother inside the courtroom. Despite her calm countenance, however, the young girl admits she misses her father, Alejandro. In honor of him, Julia Mae has expressed her desire to follow in the footsteps of his late journalist-father, a Manila Bulletin reporter who was covering Maguindanao politics when he was killed with 56 others. In October last year, Julia Mae made headlines when she was selected by the Chicago Journalists Association in Illinois, US as a recipient of a $1,000 scholarship grant. Julia Mae's father was among the 32 journalists killed in the 2009 massacre, where members of an electoral convoy and some chance motorists were killed at Sitio Masalay in Barangay Salman, Ampatuan town. [See related: Wanted: More than 100 suspects in Ampatuan massacre] Photographs of the slain Reblando, along with seven other victims, were shown in the courtroom on Thursday by Chief Inspector Raymond Cabling, who was among seven medico-legal experts who autopsied the victims. Myrna was quietly sobbing throughout Cabling's visual presentation. But when Cabling gave notice that the next picture he was about to show was that of Alejandro, Myrna broke into tears. Displayed through a projector, the photo showed the journalist's mangled body lying on a grassy field, with a hole on his face and a bloodied left arm, supposedly due to gunshot wounds. Prosecution lawyers had to approach Myrna to calm down the grieving widow. To courtroom regulars who have followed the Ampatuan multiple murder trial, Myrna has come to be known as the relative who most easily turns emotional during the court proceedings. In October last year, she had to be ushered out of the courtroom in the middle of a hearing at an earlier venue in Taguig City, after she burst into tears and her blood pressure shot up. (See: Slain journalist's wife breaks down at Ampatuan trial) Four months later, in February, Myrna broke down again after the defense suggested that some of the massacre victims could have either accidentally killed other victims, or could have died due to poisoning or insect bites. Offended by the defense's insinuation, Myrna burst into tears, forcing prosecutors to take her outside the courtroom, where she continued to wail while hurling expletives at the defense lawyers. (See: Wife of slain journalist breaks down during Ampatuan trial) The trial judge, Jocelyn Solis-Reyes, earlier requested the victims' families to "refrain" from shouting and crying out loud inside the courtroom. Myrna and other relatives of the slain journalists have asked Solis-Reyes to require the government to extend psychosocial assistance to them. The court has yet to act on the petition.—JV, GMA News