A tale of two massacres (Updated)

EXACTLY THREE years ago today a convoy was hijacked in a town in Maguindanao province and forced off the road to a pre-dug mass grave about two kilometers away. That stopped a woman from filing for her husband a certificate of candidacy that would challenge the dynastic domination of the province by a family for whom the town itself has been named—Ampatuan. That also stopped 57 people, 32 of them from the news media, from witnessing a democratic process unfold in a most dramatic way.