Php 70.00 Vol. 44 No. 1 • JANUARY 2010 - IMPACT Magazine Online!

FROM THE
BLOGS
Behind and beyond the Maguindanao massacre
It was brutal, atrocious, inhuman. It was a national curse,
an international shame, a historical first in cruelty and
bestiality. Innocent men and women were murdered,
butchered and violated. Helpless media persons were slaughtered.
Some of them were even buried with their cars serving
as coffins. Their burial ground in terms of huge and deep
pits were prepared even much earlier—courtesy of a huge
and identified provincial backhoe.
Hence the many tears shed and the loud cries made by
the families and friends of the pitiful victims. Expressions
of frustration, indignation and condemnation were made not
only locally but also internationally. Not merely relatives
and friends of the mercilessly murdered people lamented the
human carnage unlimited, but many other individuals and
groups in different parts of the world, as well.
Most of all, loud and insistent were the demands to
catch and punish the criminal with the full force of law.
Yet, a good number of the perpetrators of the heinous crime
are still doing the rounds there, here and abroad. As usual,
the minds behind the debauchery are said to be aspiring for
confinement at well known St. Luke’s Hospital.
There is even the elementary perception promoted by the
administration in particular that the massacre was basically
political in nature and pre-election rivalry in context. Political
dynasty was said to be the culprit. Yes, there were long known
political warlords who were involved. Yes, no less than a
hundreds of heavily armed men perpetrated the massacre of
several dozens of individuals. Yes, the political warlords of
the place with their associates of well armed assassins and
butchers acted cool and calm to cover-up the killing fields
and to bury those they massacred in cold blood.
It is not a secret that Filipinos
by and large have not only an
innovative drive in doing things
but also a creative spirit in redoing
themselves—their outputs included.
And this some kind of an in-born trait
extends from the ingenious way they
have in living their admittedly difficult
day-to-day lives to the surprising and
even delightful way they continuously
reinvent their products. Let it be noted
that such inventive and fanciful disposition
is more often than not endowed
with a certain fun, not to mention their
being naughty as well.
A case in point is that on the occasion
of the last 2010 New Year’s Eve,
this report came about in whispers and
confidence: There were new firecrackers
on sale for the brave and courageous,
for the intrepid and defiant. But, these
firecrackers of recent vintage were not
found with their usual public displays. It
Novel firecrackers
was even said that they were sold in whispers,
and purchased with a commitment
to some kind of secrecy. Never mind the
price whereas what was more important
was the profound glee they brought about
for the big “bang” they gave.
The carefully absconded and surreptitiously
sold “new” firecrackers
were definitely not without their proper
inherent connotations. It was said that
their respective brand names were
enough to say that those who buy the
unique firecrackers should not fool
around with them—with the earnest
instruction that there must be an “all
clear” signal before any of them were
lighted and thereby exploded.
The novel firecrackers were said
to be three in kind hereafter mentioned
according to their reported ascending
order of loud unique “bang”—with their
also ascending price tags: First, “BIN
LADEN”. Second, “AMPATUAN”.
Meantime, the infamous and detestable ruling administration—coerced
by the well justified irate urgings of the
general public—is as usual “conducting investigations”
and “gathering evidence” and “identifying the suspects”
and “preparing the trials”. In fact, it even recently declared
“Martial Law” in the now foreboding Province of Maguindanao.
But very much more than all the above display of
usual over-concern and compassionate over-acting, there
appears to be much more than everything that is being said
and brandied about. Hence, the following straight questions
demanding straight answers:
Who authorized the forming of the big private armies
in the place by giving or allowing armed assassins to have
modern high powered weapons, letting them as well to roam
around the Province openly, freely and proudly “protecting”
their political masters? Who? Was it the DILG leadership
as principal agent?
Why were the known political warlords allowed to exist
and prosper, to live and act as billionaires with many palatial
homes and luxurious cars, without the least regard for the
high ranking PNP lawful authorities in the place? Why? Was
it because of Malacañang profound political gratitude from
the time its tenant and allies won all election since 1974?
What was the real and actual bottom-line issue in the
massacre of the times which was such a singular phenomenon
to merely pin it on but political rivalry in a local and
distant place, yet undertaken with big nonchalance and much
bravura? What? Was it huge and customary drug dealing,
together with continuous big money laundering—particularly
in Las Vegas?
www.ovc.blogspot.com
Third “GOOD-BYE GLORIA”.
This is not to say that such opted
nomenclature or brand names are
fair or otherwise, disrespected or
otherwise. They all have certain common
implications: One, they all say
something rather critical and fatal
even. Two, they all imply something
specially discredited and deplorable.
Three, they all forward something rare
as extraordinary awful in being and
unacceptable in standing.
There seems to be no record how
many of the said firecrackers were sold/
bought, how much they were enjoyed
by those who fired them as well as those
who saw and heard them explode. But
with such appended names to those firecrackers,
it is hard to imagine the awe
and apprehension they made, and the
commotion and impression they cause
when fired. And understandably so!
www.ovc.blogspot.com
26
IMPACT • January 2010