Activities set to commemorate Maguindanao massacre's 2nd anniversary

A series of activities has been lined up for an entire month to commemorate the second anniversary of the grisly Maguindanao massacre, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP). Some of the highlights of the month-long commemoration will include a "Torch Parade and Vigil" and a traveling film-showing of documentaries made by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ). The commemoration will kickstart on October 23, or exactly one month before the second anniversary of the carnage, where several media groups are expected to start the "Countdown to End Impunity," a social media campaign that will include placing countdown timers on various websites. The campaign will also include the airing of public service announcements about the massacre and the murder case. Thirty-two of the 57 people killed in the Nov. 23, 2009 carnage were journalists. The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) will also start putting up posters and setting up freedom walls in a number of schools on the second week of November. On November 15, various media groups are also set to hold a dialogue with various government agencies to get their commitment to anti-impunity campaigns as well as get updates on the recommendations made during past meetings with President Benigno Aquino III. Meanwhile, the showing of the PCIJ documentaries — dubbed the "Roadshow to End Impunity" — will run from November 15 to 21, and will be staged in several schools including the University of the Philippines-Diliman (Nov. 15), the Lyceum of the Philippines (Nov. 17), and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines campus in Sta. Mesa Manila. (Nov. 21). Also on November 23, several media groups are expected to release a "Manifesto to End Impunity" that will be published in various publications. The "Torch Parade and Vigil" — to be highlighted by the lighting of lanterns — on November 23 will be led by the NUJP. Apart from the NUJP, other participants of the commemoration are members of the NUJP, CMFR, PCIJ, the Philippine Press Institute, and the Kapisanan ng Brodkaster ng Pilipinas. Considered the worst single-day, election-related violence in Philippine history, and worst single attack on journalists anywhere, the massacre was blamed on prominent members of the Ampatuan clan, powerful political clan in southern Mindanao. — Mark D. Merueñas/KBK, GMA News