October 20, 2010 Ampatuan trial

A FARMER from Sitio Masalay, Ampatuan town in Maguindanao testified October 20 how Andal “Unsay” Ampatuan Jr. and his men allegedly killed 58 persons including 32 journalists last November 23, 2009. At around 10:30 a.m. (local time) on 23 November 2009, Witness Abdul Esmael Abubakar said he was on...

Trial of multiple murder defendants begins

TEN MONTHS after the Ampatuan massacre, the trial of the persons accused of participating in the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre  started September 2010. Fifty-eight persons including 32 journalists and media workers who were on their way to file the Certificate of Candidacy (COC) of Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu were stopped...

Journalists, Maguindanao 32′s families hold 10th Commemoration

Members of media organizations and cause-oriented media groups, and families of the Ampatuan Massacre victims gather at the Boy Scout Rotunda in Quezon City last Sept. 23 for the commemoration of the 10th month since what was dubbed as the single biggest case of media killing in recent times....

AMPATUAN TRIAL UPDATE: Slow Motion

ONLY THE case against the alleged co-conspirators, in contrast to that against the alleged masterminds in the Ampatuan Massacre, was  moving as this update was being written. Five other alleged co-conspirators in the Ampatuan Massacre—Police Chief Inspector Sukarno Dicay, PO3 Rasid Anton, Maot Dumla, Thong Guimano, and Muhamad Sangki—were...

AMPATUAN TRIAL UPDATE: Judge faces fifth recusation motion

THE JUDGE who was supposed to try the accused in the Ampatuan multiple murder case has once again been asked by the defense lawyers to recuse herself—for the sixth time. The motion for Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes to inhibit herself from trying the...

Towards A State Policy of Ending Impunity

A statement by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) on the sixth month of the November 23 massacre of 32 journalists and media workers

5th Commemoration of the Maguindanao Massacre

Protest against the Agra Decision

Elusive justice

by Maria Khamine Kianah Amil, Kristina Noelle Andaya and Jenny de Venecia Japeth Umpad is five months old, and he will never see his father again. His father, UNTV cameraman McDelbert Arriola, was among the 37 journalists/media practitioners abducted and brutally murdered in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao on Nov. 23,...

The fight continues

by Monica Joy Cantilero, Jenny de Venecia and Christine Joy Sarmiento The families of the victims of  the Nov. 23 Ampatuan massacre marked the fifth month since the killings took place by pledging to continue their fight for justice despite threats and the dismissal of multiple murder charges  against...