PRESS STATEMENT:
Neither Iraq
nor Afghanistan
Can equal the gruesome massacre
Reference: Atty. Pet Melliza, P.R.O., NUPL Iloilo Chapter
NUPL-Iloilo denounces Ampatuan massacre
The National Union of Peoples’
Lawyers Iloilo chapter (NUPL-Iloilo) joins the kins, loved ones and concerned Filipinos
in their grief and rage on the senseless and brutal massacre of the innocent in
Ampatuan, Maguindanao, much so because two of our compaņeras, Atty. Connie Brizuela and Atty. Cynthia Oquendo were among the victims.
Heavily
armed men at around 9:30 am, November 23, abducted at Brgy. Salman, Ampatuan and
massacred members of the convoy to Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao where Genalyn
Tiamzon Mangudadatu was to file the certificate of candidacy of her husband, Buluan
town vice mayor Ishmael Mangudadatu.
We call on
the government, particularly, its security forces in Maguindanao to bring the
perpetrators of that revolting crime to justice.
The
senseless loss of lives could also be blamed on the government. The massacre
was perpetrated by followers of a suspected warlord which is allied with the
ruling Lakas-KMPI-CMD of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
The boldness of the perpetrators in
carrying out the carnage is but an offshoot of the Arroyo administrations strategy
of nurturing the culture of impunity since 2001.
The killings of activists which
reached 1,000 since 2001 and of journalists, 56 minus the recent 12 casualties,
in the same period, happened because of the culture of impunity that the Arroyo
administration fosters.
We call on
the government to investigate local security forces for their seeming inaction
to protect the Mangudadatus before and after the bloody incident. The Mangudadatu
who seeks the gubernatorial post of Maguindanao had sought PNP and Army for
personnel to escort the convoy to the provincial capital but was turned down.
The
murderers did not even consider that the persons whose lives they ruthlessly
snuffed out were women, journalists and lawyers. At least 12 of the fatalities
were journalists as confirmed by the National Union of Journalists of the
Philippines (NUJP).
Two of the
victims are legal counsel of the gubernatorial candidate, namely: Attys. Connie
Brizuela and Cynthia Oquendo, both members of the Union of People's Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM) and also of the NUPL.
Not even Iraq nor Afghanistan could equal the senselessness
of murdering such number of journalists and lawyers in a single incident.
The
casualties could hit over 50 as the
search for the bodies of other victims continues. Some were buried in scattered
places with the use of the backhoe of the Maguindanao provincial government.
We condole
with the survivors, their kins and loved ones of the massacre.
(Sgd.) Atty. Joshua Alim
President
NUPL-Iloilo
November 24, 2009
