Statement of SLB on the Maguindanao Massacre
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Included in this SLB Lightpost is an invitation for you to join the forum on the Maguindanao Massacre and the celebration of Holy Mass in memory of Maguindanao massacre victims.
For details please see below.
Thank You.
Together let us put a stop to political violence.
28 November 2009
ACCOUNTABILITY TO HUMANITY
“Peace cannot be achieved through violence,
it can only be attained through understanding.”
R. W. Emerson
We will always remember the tragedy of November 23, 2009, in Maguindanao, as the time when some of us have forgotten what it means to be human. No amount of words can ever describe how many of us actually feel about this utter evil. And the fear that such monstrosity actually exists in our land and by our own people, grips us all the more paralyzing. Condemning this transgression is not enough, for the price of such act is unparalleled. But what is also very infuriating is how those who have the power of the rule of law fell silent amidst such overwhelming chaos. The cries of the victims and their families for justice have seemingly fallen on deaf ears. Now we stand afraid and deeply angry because those who have “sworn to serve and protect” are stained with the very blood of these senseless deaths.
The tragedy of November 23 serves as a warning to each one of us. It is not enough that the alleged mastermind has already been “invited” for questioning but that men, in uniform as suspected or not, partook in this crime and have done such evil with much malice, hatred and violence. This barbaric act is a symptom of a society whose values system has become so jaded and twisted. It reeks of a system so corrupt, so inept. It is an indication that evil has corrupted our very beings, who we are. It is an indication that our democratic institutions are not taken seriously and are instead trampled upon and abused. It is a clear sign that we have lost no longer just a national identity, but our very humanity.
The horrors of November 23 points for us to a leadership of greed and incompetence, of non-existent servant leaders but rather opportunists. Today we hear stories of witnesses saying they were merely following orders and this upsets us all the more. Each one of those present during that evil butchery must pay for their crime. And even though a mastermind may be accused, tried and be brought to justice, one cannot shake off the thought that there were many fingers that pulled the trigger in that entire carnage. It shows a people so blinded by bias and hatred that have transformed them into beasts, into indescribable evil. It shows a people with no sense of right and wrong, of values so corrupted, so compromised. A people without independent thought, not even personal belief or simply the capacity to choose between good and evil.
Our hearts go out to the families of the victims of this senseless tragedy. We will include you always in our prayers. And we will not allow that infamous day to grip us in fear forever. Instead, we will let that memory challenge us to make this tragedy an opportunity for our nation to begin remembering who she can truly be. We will use this evil to draw something good, we will rise up as a nation again. But above all, we will remember again that even beyond religion or race, we belong to one humanity.
We will not allow this darkness to overwhelm us. Rather, we will continue beating the drums of our life witnessing, in memory of those human rights advocates and protectors of free speech who perished with the Mangudadatus and their supporters, until we have awaken our very souls to peace and democracy once more.
MANALANGIN. MANINDIGAN. MAKIALAM
Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan
You are invited to join the following activities:
Forum on the Maguindanao Massacre
December 1, Tuesday
1:00 PM, University of the Philippines
[Guest: Members of the Mangudadatu Family)
Mass in Memory of the Maguindanao Massacre Victims
December 1, Tuesday, 5:30 PM
Ateneo College Chapel, Ateneo de Manila University
Forum on the Maguindanao Massacre
December 3, Thursday, 4:30 PM
Leong Hall, Loyola Schools , Ateneo de Manila University
[Guest: Members of the Mangudadatu Family)
The Maguindanao Massacre Timeline
On November 23, 2009 against more than 50 unarmed civilians - 57 at last count - many of them women, more than 20 of them journalists. The massacre site is located along an off-road hillside in Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman, Ampatuan town, Maguindanao province.
About 9:00 am - A convoy of six vehicles carrying journalists, lawyers, and relatives of Maguindanao vice mayor Datu Ismael “Toto" Mangudadatu leaves Buluan to file Mangudadatu’s Certificate of Candidacy at the Comelec office in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao's capital.
About 10:30 am - The convoy and the two other vehicles nearby are traveling on a stretch of the Cotabato-Isulan national highway when they are accosted by a group of about 100 armed men at a checkpoint in Sitio Masalay, Ampatuan town, about 10 kilometers (four, according to another version) from their destination.
About 11:00 am - Philippine Army units in the area are alerted and launch a search for the hostages and their abductors.
Undetermined times between 10:30 am and 3 pm - Commandeered by the armed men, the vehicles in the convoy, including the Vios and the FX, are driven to a hilly and sparsely-populated part of Sitio Masalay (in other accounts, Sitio Magating) in Brgy. Salman, Ampatuan, Maguindanao. It takes them 30 minutes to reach the area, which is 2.5 kilometers from the highway checkpoint where the victims were abducted.
The armed men systematically kill the hostages using rapid-fire automatic guns. (It is unclear if bladed weapons were used.) The killers start dumping the bodies and vehicles into the mass graves, and begin covering up the site using the backhoe.
About 3:00 pm - The same witness said that the perpetrators received a call warning them of approaching Army soldiers. The killers hurriedly flee just before Army soldiers arrive, leaving behind more than two dozen unburied victims and their vehicles.
The graves are found and the buried vehicles and bodies retrieved
There are three gravesites:
(1) In Grave 1 are retrieved 24 of the victims, including three of the five Vios passengers, FX Tamaraw driver, Anthony Ridao, Genalyn Mangdadatu, Eden Mangudadatu, and Farina Mangudadatu
(2) In Grave 2 are found six others along with the Vios, L-300 and the Tamaraw-FX.
(3) In Grave 3 are found five people.
- The first two graves are 10 to 12 feet deep, while the third is just about five feet deep.
All in all, 35 victims are found buried in the three graves, while 22 are found lying on the ground, for a total of 57 fatalities. There are still three to four unidentified bodies.
(Source: www.gmanews.tv)
Manalangin. Manindigan. Makialam.
Let us put a stop to political violence