Visayan journalists joined a solemn program on Thursday, Nov. 21, remembering the victims of the Maguindanao massacre in 2009.
Fifty-eight persons, including 32 journalists, were killed in what is believed to be the single deadliest attack against journalists in the world.
VISAYAN journalists light candles and offer flowers and prayers to the 58 persons, including 32 journalists, killed at the site of the Maguindanao massacre in Ampatuan, Maguindanao del Sur on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (Tara Yap)
Journalists from Western Visayas, Central Visayas, and Eastern Visayas offered prayers, flowers, and lighted candles in the massacre site in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao del Sur province.
The event was part of the “Inside BARMM: A Walk Through the Bangsamoro Region” organized by the Mindanao Institute of Journalism, the publisher of MindaNews.
Veteran Mindanao journalists Carolyn Arguillas and Froilan Gallardo gave Visayan journalists a glimpse of what happened on Nov. 23, 2009, the development of criminal cases, and the massacre’s impact on journalism.
Some participants could not hold back their emotions over what happened to their colleagues during a program.
Alex Pal from Dumaguete City, Negros Occidental said journalists should make a visit to the site. “This should have never happened in the first place,” Pal said.
Journalists were all united in the program in the call for full justice to be served.
Fifteen years later, only key figures, including former local officials Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr. and Zaldy Ampatuan, have been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019. Many suspects are still at large.