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Philippines declares emergency after 46 killed in poll violence
This southern region of the Philippines is wracked by violent political rivalries, in addition to a long-running Islamic insurgency, but the killings have shocked this Southeast Asian nation. One adviser to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has described the massacre as the worst in the country’s recent history. A media rights watchdog also says that it appears to be the world’s worst mass killing of journalists, with as many as 23 feared dead.
Dozens of gunmen abducted the group of journalists, supporters and relatives of a gubernatorial candidate as they traveled through Amputuan township Monday to file candidacy documents in the provincial capital for May 2010 elections.
The gubernatorial candidate, Ismael Mangudadatu, who was not a part of the convoy, accused a powerful political rival from the Amputuan clan of being behind the slayings. There is a longstanding bitterness between the two families.
Mangudadatu’s wife, Genalyn, and his two sisters were among the dead.
The bodies found in the grave, about six feet (two meters) deep, were dumped on top of one another. They included a pregnant woman. Grieving relatives helped identify their loved ones before they were given the bodies, covered by banana leaves, for burial.
Officials were still trying to determine the exact number of people intercepted by the gunmen and whether any had survived. Authorities have said the convoy comprised about 40 people, but Cataluna said at least five other people were still missing.
Arroyo declared an emergency in the provinces of Maguindanao and nearby Sultan Kudarat, allowing security forces to conduct random searches and set up checkpoints to pursue the gunmen.
Arroyo said she ordered police and the military “to conduct immediate, relentless pursuit against the perpetrators to secure the affected areas.” The emergency will remain in place until the president is confident that law and order have been restored in the region, her spokesman Cerge Remonde said.
Police and Joy Sonza, head of a small private TV station, UNTV, identified at least three journalists among the dead.
Noynoy Espina, vice chairman of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, said at least 20 other journalists were believed to be among those killed, based on reports from union chapters in the area.
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