Justice Is The First Step

A statement on the Maguindanao Massacre

The arrest, and maybe the conviction, of Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. might be a major development towards attaining justice for the 34 members of media and 23 other victims of the most barbaric massacre in the history of journalism.

But this is not enough.

Justice means the arrest and punishment of all those involved. Nobody – from the mastermind to the lowly bata-bata – should be able to get away with a crime so grave.

The massacre did not just take away at least 57 lives in a cruel and heartless manner. The slaughter defiled the core principles our democracy – the concept of free and fair elections and that of a free press.

Justice should lead towards the conduct of freer and fairer elections. Justice should further result in the healthy respect for members of the Fourth Estate and the role they play in making our democratic system work for everybody.

But the criminal warlords did not rise to such an extreme position of power and abuse without powerful coddlers for mutual benefit. Warlords, in fact, had been historically with us since the birth of our flawed democracy. They are part and parcel of our imperfect political system rooted in centuries of feudal relationships and violence.

The 57 are not only victims of the Ampatuans’ desire to maintain their warlord status in Maguindanao. They are victims of the worst case of violence of traditional politics in its extreme form. Justice, therefore, should be the first step in changing the historical socio-economic and political conditions that produced criminal warlords like the Ampatuans.