Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard the news about the massacre in the Philippines, in Maguindanao. 59 people (as of 1:18 AM November 27th SGT) were killed for political reasons. The short of it is that a local “clan”, the Ampatuans, has been running the area warlord style for years. A local mayor, Ismael Mangudadatu, wanted to file his intention to run for office and was sent death threats.
Let me just stop for a minute here and repeat that. DEATH THREATS. As in, killed to death until you’re no longer breathing or moving, and until you never will again. A death threat is the sort of thing that should make you stop and think about your situation and maybe, just maybe, reevaluate what you plan to do.
Instead of using common sense and accepting the fact that it was a lost cause, this political hopeful decided to send women and other family members, unarmed, in his place to file his intention to run for office.
Now let’s stop to think about this again. He received death threats. Any person with any sense would realize that if you are threatened with death if you file to run for office, then anyone you send in your stead faces that same fate.
I’m not justifying what happened at all, because it’s disgusting, and a tragedy. What I’m saying is that this tragedy could have been prevented and is due completely to the stupidity of Ismael Mangudadatu. I think he’s partially responsible for the deaths of all of these people and should also be tried and convicted.
In regards to the actual issue of the killing for political reasons, I’m not understanding why there needs to be much of an investigation. It’s obvious what it was done for and who was behind it. A bunch of militia and police didn’t just get together on the road and kill 59 people by accident. They didn’t then use the governor’s backhoe to try to hide the evidence without anyone knowing.
No one ever claimed the government in the Philippines was a just and right one, well at least not in our lifetime, but I never thought it was this bad. These people who committed this tragedy are supposed political allies of the current President, not that that’s saying anything at all. She’s corrupt too. She’s announcing the 26th of November as a national day of mourning for the victims, but what’s that going to do? Is that going to bring back all of those dead people? Is that going to implement real and meaningful government for the people of Maguindanao? I don’t think so. What’s needed is speedy justice in a clear cut case. Remove all Ampatuans from political positions, imprison the ones involved, disperse the clan, and ban them from running for political office for 5 generations.
Bradley Farless 