This is the official statement of the Davao City-based Peacebuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI) on the Maguindanao massacre, interestingly titled “Hope for the Future”:
We deplore and condemn the vicious killings in Maguindanao Province yesterday, Monday November 23. At least 57 people, including public servants, journalists, fathers and wives, were murdered while exercising their democratic rights to register an election candidate and serving as media practitioners providing the information and transparency that undergirds a healthy society. This incident is a serious blow to that crucial work in society and may be the largest killing of media personnel ever, according to the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders. In particular we mourn the loss of Jun Jun Legarta, a field reporter for Mindanao Bulletin, and Juvy Unto, a field reporter based in Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat. They are the cousins of our Peacebuilders staff member Jester Valdez.
Peacebuilders Community Inc. has been doing peace education, advocacy and conflict transformation in Mindanao since 2006. We have seen over the years how easy it is for a localized incident to spark wider violence and how negative perceptions of conflict often reduce the capacity to address these flare-ups in creative non-violent ways. We therefore decry the media using this incident to war-type the image of Mindanao. This is seen in today’s Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) headline picture showing a column of tanks in Datu Piang Maguindanao on May 26 in the offensive against the MILF, a war story and location of an unrelated image piggy-backed onto the current tragedy. This only cements that image of violence in the national consciousness and the idea that military action is the appropriate or only response. We therefore call on the editors of the PDI to balance their reporting with the pictures and stories of the many peace workers, journalists and advocates struggling to birth a better reality in Mindanao.
We are especially concerned about the following:
1. With the increased military and police presence in an already highly militarized and volatile area, we are concerned about a potential disintegration of the ceasefire between the army of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which has only been reestablished since this past July.
2. The government might take this as an opportunity to go after suspects accused of human rights violations in the recent hostilities between the MILF and GRP, that might lead to displacement of civilians in other communities.
3. Spillover of communal violence into surrounding communities and the escalation of a cycle of retaliation between involved individuals, families or communities, or the settling of unrelated grudges by unrelated parties through violent means.
PBCI has learned that within every painful situation such as this lay seeds of peace and hope that will grow when watered by justice and truth. While there is tragedy and danger in this reality, there is also an opportunity to transform this into something new and better.
We therefore make the following four (4) recommendations in the hope of preventing further violence and bloodshed and bringing healing and hope to our land:
Hope for the Future: Recommendations Regarding the Ampatuan Massacre of November 23, 2009
Cooling Off: The agreement by the aggrieved families, friends and relatives to a 30 day cooling-off period to allow the preliminary and impartial investigation into the killing. Preliminary findings should be released by law enforcement officials at the end of the 30 days in order to provide understanding into the incident and clarify further options for the victims.
Peoples Justice: Convening of a civil society work group to make preliminary recommendations related to this incident at the end of the 30 day period in the larger picture of justice practices (i.e. conventional, indigenous, Islamic, restorative and transitional) and conflict transformation in Mindanao.
Reconciling and Truth-telling Commission: A Commitment of seed funds from local and global partners for the creation of a Peoples Commission on Reconciling and Truth-telling in Mindanao (Peoples CORT) under the auspices of the United Nations or another trusted International non-Governmental Organization. The recommendations of the aforementioned civil society work group will provide basis for the establishment of a truly Cultural Process addressing the just needs of victims and the wider community. These ideas have been discussed for too long, it’s time to give it wings.
Violence Prevention: Coordination between the Philippine National Police, Philippine Army and other law enforcement investigating the incident with the Joint Coordinating Committee for the Cessation of Hostilities (JCCCH) in order to prevent inadvertent hostilities with the MILF or other armed groups.
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[...] In one of my blog entries last week (“Stop killing journalists!!!”) I included some photos of the site of the November 23 Maguindanao massacre taken by Dann Pantoja of the Davao City-based Peacebuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI). He had gone to the site to do some documentation and to find out what really happened, and now he is sharing the group’s thoughts on the matter. (Read PCBI’s statement in my previous entry) [...]