11th anniversary of `Maguindanao massacre' commemorated

COTABATO CITY --- The coronavirus pandemic made languid the commemoration on Monday of the 11^th anniversary of the Maguindanao massacre that left 58 people dead and shook the nation to its core.

At least 32 of the 58 fatalities in the incident, touted as the country’s worst election-related violence ever, were members of central Mindanao’s media community.

The family of Maguindanao Rep. Esmael Mangudadatu, who lost a spouse, Genalyn, in the carnage, led the simple prayer rite at the scene of the crime in Sitio Salman in Barangay Masalay in Ampatuan, Maguindanao.

A number of relatives of slain journalists, residing in faraway areas, told reporters they decided to forego, meantime, with their supposed participation in the event in keeping with state COVID-19 containment protocols.

“It doesn’t mean we are not one in spirit with those who went there at the massacre site to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the massacre,” said a daughter of one of the 58 people killed on November 23, 2009 in Salman area by armed partisans.

The source, who is residing in South Cotabato province, said members of her family prayed for all victims of the massacre in their house instead.

The 58 massacre victims were in a convoy bound for Shariff Aguak town, led by Mangudadatu’s wife, Genalyn, who was to file on his behalf a certificate of candidacy for governor of Maguindanao in the then forthcoming May 2010 election.

Gunmen led by politicians who were to pit a candidate for the same post flagged them down while motoring through Barangay Salman in Ampatuan, while  en route to the provincial capitol  in Shariff Aguak, herded them to a hill in Sitio Salman and there killed them with assault rifles and K3 machineguns.

A government career service staff, Eden Ridao, whose husband, Anthony, died in the incident, wrote on Facebook that while she and her two daughters were elated with the “partial conviction” in December 19, 2019 of the massacre culprits, they are still wishing for a final judicial verdict that would put closure to the tragic demise of their family patriarch.

“Some of those adjudged guilty had filed their appeals in court.  While we recognize that it is their right to make an appeal, we just hope and pray that the final resolution of the case will not take another 10 years,” Ridao, said.

In a statement distributed to media outlets in central Mindanao Monday, Mangudadatu, who had served as Maguindanao governor for three consecutive terms after the massacre, urged for continuing fervent prayers for justice for all victims of the massacre.

“Maybe time indeed has healed the once gaping wounds that has left us numb to the very fiber of our being. For most, if not all, who are here with us, would agree that what has transpired on that fateful November 23, morning, 11 years ago is incredulously impossible to forget,” Mangudadatu said.

Mangudadatu was elected congressional representative of the second district of Maguindanao during the May 2019 elections, after a three-term stint as provincial governor of the province.