CLARK FREEPORT – External Affairs Sec. Edgardo Pamintuan said the guilt of the politically powerful Ampatuan family in the massacre of 57 victims in Maguindanao last Nov. 23 “is as clear as daylight.”
This, even as Pamintuan also urged the maximum penalty and even death for perpetrators of the massacre whose victims included 32 journalists.
“Death for them”, he shouted with his clenched fist raised, as journalists from various parts of Luzon gathered here last Saturday to mark the second month commemoration of the mass murders attributed by witnesses to the politically powerful Ampatuan, primarily Mayor Andal Ampatuan who is now in jail.
In a prepared speech he read before the journalists, Pamintuan lamented that “I belong to and work for the administration of Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo whose term as been sadly seen as the most deadly and fatal for journalists.”
But he added that “in all fairness to the President and her administration, one has yet to show proof that these killings have been perpetrated by the state.”
“The Maguindanao massacre was not state-sponsored. It was the handiwork of a clan deranged by power,” he said.
Pamintuan also said at least “30 of your colleagues, as per figures of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, were brutally murdered along with 27 other civilians by the Ampatuans and their murderous minions on Nov. 23, 2009. Please note that I have not used the word ‘allegedly’ in referring to the Ampatuans. For me, their guilt is as clear as daylight.”
In a statement issued during the same event, the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), led by its Executive Director Melinda Quintos de Jesus, noted that the President “was reported to have described the leading members of the Ampatuans as ‘political allies’” as it noted that the Ampatuans had been credited for delivering votes in their province, in favor of the ruling coalition in the 2007 elections.
The commemoration was spearheaded here by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and the Pampanga Press Club whose members have vowed to hold such activity every 23rd of each month “until justice is served to the victims of the Maguindanao massacre.”
The journalists read statements vowing to seek justice for their colleagues killed in the massacre, and lighted candles for them.
The CMFR noted that the “while trial (of the Ampatuans) has started with more than the usual speed, the people, but most especially journalists and media workers, should bear in mind that they cannot let down the watch but must keep up the safeguard of careful scrutiny. Otherwise, even this case can simply be taken over by the kind of clever legal tactics which have nothing to do with justice.”
While exonerating the President from the massacre, Pamintuan noted that “the sad and brutal spectacle of the Maguindanao massacre cries out of yawning gaps in our appreciation of basic liberties and democracy itself.”.
“We still have a long way to go in upholding democracy in our society and country,” he said, adding that “the bloodshed by our colleagues who were killed in the exercise of their profession should fire us up all to work a little bit harder in defending and upholding our liberties, our freedoms, our democracy.”
Pamintuan is now the official candidate of the administration Lakas-Kampi-CMD party for mayor in Angeles City but has yet to resign from his Malacañang post. Last December, however, he gave up his post as president of the North Luzon Railways Corp. and only recently, his post as chairman of the Subic-Clark Alliance Development Council (SCADC).
This, even as Pamintuan also urged the maximum penalty and even death for perpetrators of the massacre whose victims included 32 journalists.
“Death for them”, he shouted with his clenched fist raised, as journalists from various parts of Luzon gathered here last Saturday to mark the second month commemoration of the mass murders attributed by witnesses to the politically powerful Ampatuan, primarily Mayor Andal Ampatuan who is now in jail.
In a prepared speech he read before the journalists, Pamintuan lamented that “I belong to and work for the administration of Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo whose term as been sadly seen as the most deadly and fatal for journalists.”
But he added that “in all fairness to the President and her administration, one has yet to show proof that these killings have been perpetrated by the state.”
“The Maguindanao massacre was not state-sponsored. It was the handiwork of a clan deranged by power,” he said.
Pamintuan also said at least “30 of your colleagues, as per figures of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, were brutally murdered along with 27 other civilians by the Ampatuans and their murderous minions on Nov. 23, 2009. Please note that I have not used the word ‘allegedly’ in referring to the Ampatuans. For me, their guilt is as clear as daylight.”
In a statement issued during the same event, the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), led by its Executive Director Melinda Quintos de Jesus, noted that the President “was reported to have described the leading members of the Ampatuans as ‘political allies’” as it noted that the Ampatuans had been credited for delivering votes in their province, in favor of the ruling coalition in the 2007 elections.
The commemoration was spearheaded here by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and the Pampanga Press Club whose members have vowed to hold such activity every 23rd of each month “until justice is served to the victims of the Maguindanao massacre.”
The journalists read statements vowing to seek justice for their colleagues killed in the massacre, and lighted candles for them.
The CMFR noted that the “while trial (of the Ampatuans) has started with more than the usual speed, the people, but most especially journalists and media workers, should bear in mind that they cannot let down the watch but must keep up the safeguard of careful scrutiny. Otherwise, even this case can simply be taken over by the kind of clever legal tactics which have nothing to do with justice.”
While exonerating the President from the massacre, Pamintuan noted that “the sad and brutal spectacle of the Maguindanao massacre cries out of yawning gaps in our appreciation of basic liberties and democracy itself.”.
“We still have a long way to go in upholding democracy in our society and country,” he said, adding that “the bloodshed by our colleagues who were killed in the exercise of their profession should fire us up all to work a little bit harder in defending and upholding our liberties, our freedoms, our democracy.”
Pamintuan is now the official candidate of the administration Lakas-Kampi-CMD party for mayor in Angeles City but has yet to resign from his Malacañang post. Last December, however, he gave up his post as president of the North Luzon Railways Corp. and only recently, his post as chairman of the Subic-Clark Alliance Development Council (SCADC).
