N.B. – This is a statement from the November 23 Movement scheduled to be published or aired by participating media organizations on December 1 (Tuesday). As a member of NUJP (one of the signatories), I fully agree with the contents of this statement.
A Challenge of Conscience
The brutal, indiscriminate mass murder on Monday in Ampatuan town, in Maguindanao province, raises the ultimate challenge of conscience. It carries the culture of impunity at work in this country to such levels of horror that, if it remains unpunished for long, can send the nation into an inexorable descent into absolute dehumanization.
The crime thus calls for swift justice, which can only be achieved through a credible and independent process, which in turn can only be achieved without the hand of this government – a government justly mistrusted generally and openly friendly precisely to the very members of the clan accused in the massacre.
We, ourselves colleagues of the more than a score journalists who were killed, demand the following:
One, the creation of a commission outside the government to investigate the crime;
Two, the arrest and prosecution of all the people involved in it in any way, as murderers themselves or their protectors;
Three, the formation of a special court to try the case;
Four, fully guaranteed protection for the witnesses;
Five, the disarming and dismantling of all private armies, such as those evidently employed in the massacre.
Six, the enlistment of persons of unquestioned probity in the whole process;
And finally, the resignation of the government if it fails to deliver such basic satisfaction – indeed, the very same government that has encouraged, by partisanship and conspiracy, the culture of impunity of which the massacre has been the most abominable manifestation.
Signed:
Business World
Center for Community Journalism and Development (CCJD)
Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR)
College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP)
Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ)
National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP)
Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI)
Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project (PHRRP)
Philippine Press Institute (PPI)
Prop. Danny:
Tatanawin kong malaking utang na loob kung maaari ninyong i-repost sa inyong blog ang munting tulang sinulat ko bilang pagkondena sa Maguindanao Massacre, yaman din lamang po na mas malawak ang naaabot ng inyong blog. Ito na lang po siguro ang maiaambag ko para sa paghahangad nating lahat ng hustisya para sa mga naulila ng mga naging biktima ng nasabing karumal-dumal na krimen.
Narito po ang link sa nasabing blog post: http://blazingpenpusher.blogspot.com/2009/12/sa-kanilang-mga-nalibing-sa-lupaing.html.
Sagot: Maganda ang tula. Kung hindi mo mamasamain, lalagyan ko ito ng pagsasalin sa wikang Ingles para maintindihan ng mga hindi nakakaintindi ng Filipino. Bukas ko aasikasuhin ito. Salamat.
Prop. Danny:
Maraming salamat po sa pagpapaunlak. Mas mabuti nga po siguro kung may bersyon ito sa Ingles.
Muli, ang akin pong pasasalamat.