We Condemn 11/23

Power and Greed.

Many people have died.

How much more must die for the selfish needs of these merciless people?

How long must we suffer from mediocre, subpar leaders?

How much more are we going to endure as the beautiful flag of the Philippines get destroyed by our very own hands?

But this is what has been happening in our land. Our land, the promised land, being soiled by the blood of the innocent.

What really happened in the Maguindanao Massacre?

The prime suspect behind the massacre, who was taken into custody on Thursday, November 26, 2009, is a member of one of Mindanao’s leading Muslim political clans: the Ampatuans.

On Monday November 23, 2009, on a highway cutting through a banana grove, a large force of gunmen of around 100 intercepted a convoy of family members and journalists who were on their way to the provincial capital to witness Buluan Vice-mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, file for his candidacy as Maguindanao’s governor. The governorship in Maguindanao was occupied by Andal Ampatuan Sr since 2001. The people from the convoy were herded and they were brought to a hilly area a few kilometers away. Once there, they were shot, raped and mutilated with chainsaws.

A dirt in the flag of the Philippines and a shame for all Filipinos, the victims of the atrocity are men, women, journalists, lawyers and others who were totally unconnected to the Mangudadatus.

Brutal, barbaric, and heinous.

Are we just going to sit down and listen?

Or are we going to create the change that is needed for our country?

As one people, one nation, one Philippines.