Local Bacolod City journalists, led by the Negros Press Club and the Bacolod City chapter of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, will gather at the Negros Press Club office tomorrow to monitor the decision on the Maguindanao Massacre, which begins at 9:00 a.m.
The Supreme Court earlier granted the petition put forward by media organizations and news agencies to allow open coverage on the decision, which will be handed down by Quezon City Regional Trial Court-Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis Reyes at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, where the two principal suspects, Datu Andal Ampatuan, Jr. and Zaldy Ampatuan, are detained.
“A majority of the families of the victims reside in General Santos City, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Maguindanao,” the petition noted.
The petition also stressed, “Transparency made possible by a live broadcast would help boost public trust in the judicial system.”
On November 23, 2009, 58 victims, including 32 journalists, were shot to death on the way to the provincial poll office for the certificate of candidacy filing of Esmael ‘Toto’ Mangudadatu. The candidate was intended to run for governor against Andal Ampatuan, Jr., the son of then-Governor Andal Ampatuan, Sr., the alleged mastermind behind the massacre who died in 2015.
The Maguindanao massacre is considered the worst election-related violence in recent Philippine history and “the worst attack on journalists the world has known.”/WDJ