VOL. I NO. 24 NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 2009

‘THE TRUE STORY’

AMWSLAI pockets‘blood money’ of

Philpost workers?

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By OMAY E. RENTA

JOIN CRUSADE TO CHANGE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN RPWE seek to establish a jus-tice system whereby it isthe people themselveswho exercise the power tosay who must be arrestedand brought to trial andwho exercise the power tojudge if those brought totrial are guilty or not.

The power to say whoshould be tried in court isnow exercised by theprosecutors in the Philip-pines. So that if the onebeing accused of rape,murder or corruption isinfluential, which is mostlikely, the prosecutors can

easily be intimidated orbought. BUT if we put thispower in the hands of aGrand Jury, usually com-posing 23 persons selectedby raffle from a voters’ listand whose names andfaces are kept secret, we areforeclosing any opportu-nity for the influential crimedoer to use his power,money and influence. Therole of the fiscal shall be lim-ited to the presentation ofevidence in court. TheGrand Jury is vested withthe power to compel intimi-dated or bought witnesses

to speak up or he will bejailed until they agree tospeak up by the power ofcontempt; law enforcerswill be compelled to gatherevidence or they will beheld in jail in contempt un-til they agree to work asdetectives.

Now, the power to saywhether an accused is guiltyor not is exercised by onejudge in the Philippines;may be of a regional trialcourt or a municipal trialcourt. As we know or hear,the powerful and rich ac-cused can easily influence

or buy decisions. BUT if weplace this power in thehands of a Trial Jury, a groupof 12 ordinary persons cho-sen at random from the vot-ers’ list and whose faces andnames are kept secret, weare also foreclosing any op-portunity for the decision tobe bought or influenced.Here, ordinary persons aretasked only to know what istrue and what is false; theapplication of laws shall bethe duty of the judge who islearned in law.

The fact that we are fore-closing opportunities for

tampering with justice, weare sure that the abusiveand corrupt shall learn to toethe line and observe the ruleof law.

The vision here is wesee everybody to be“PATAS SA BATAS.”With jury, all laws can

now be implemented. If wehave laws against discrimi-nation by one tribe againstanother, or by Christiansagainst Muslims, or by therich against the poor, we cansay that rebellions (by NPAand MILF) will die becausethe root that is discrimina-

tion is being attacked bythe Jury Systems.

With all corruptionlaws assured of implemen-tation, the usually corruptofficials will be compelledto stop stealing people’smoney. The swindlers willstop because they knowthe long arm of the law willsurely reach them.

Businessmen will dealfairly with the consumersbecause the assurance ofimplementation of the lawskeeps them at bay.

Sign up at http://philjury.ning.com.

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Page 6 Page 7

Undefeatedvs

UndisputedPage 8

So, so, soGooooood

La Divareigns inLas Vegas

IS Air Materiel Wing Savingsand Loan Association Inc(AMWSLAI) pocketing thehard-earned money of thelowly employees of Philip-pine Postal Corporation(Philpost)?

This question gripped theminds of these employees,most of them in the lowestincome brackets, becauseAMWSLAI has continued to

refuse for about three yearsnow to refund the excess P4million deducted from theirsalaries supposedly for pay-ment of their loans.

AMWSLAI is the second-largest savings-and-loan asso-ciation with at least P14 billionassets, next to the ArmedForces of the Philippines SLAI

(AFPSLAI).Aside from continuously

refusing to return the excess,most employees complainedthat the loans they obtainedwere excessively usuriousand in some cases erroneous.

In all cases, the complain-ing Philpost employees saidthat if only their managementfailed to notice the excess

NOVEMBER 23rd is nowetched in the history of theprovince as the day ofshameless ignominy.

On that day, a convoy ofwomen of the Mangudadatuclan accompanied by mediapeople and their women law-yers headed for the provin-cial capitol in Sharif Aguakmunicipality was stopped byforces of the Philippine Na-tional Police.

These police forces wereaccompanied by hundredsof armed civilian volunteerorganizations (under thecommand of the PNP) alongthe national highway inAmpatuan municipality.

The convoy was in-structed to take the farm roadleading to a deep hole meantto be the mass grave of theentire convoy members, in-cluding occupants of othervehicles that happened tofollow the convoy.

I am beginning to piecethe story of the tragic mas-sacre.

(Editor’s note: This article was published by Father Jun Mercado as

his blog posted on www.gmanews.tv blog site. This has been read by

thousands but this needs to be told over and over again. Thus,

Dyaryo Magdalo defers to his depth as to the knowledge on the

incident, the people of Maguindanao and the powerful clansmen.)

By FATHER ELISEO “JUN” MERCADO, JR., OMI

THE truth is that the cultureof Maguindanao natives as towhat kind of justice should bemeted out to the murderers isstill prevailing among all Mus-lim Filipinos. The justice prac-tices are similar among thetribesmen in Lanao del Sur,Lanao del Norte, Basilan, Suluand Tawi-Tawi.

With this reality, can weexpect that the victims willnever take justice into theirhands?

Everybody in Cotabatoagrees that the Mangudadatusof Maguindanao and SultanKudarat are among the mostcivil, most peace-loving andmost understanding to theChristian neighbors and con-stituents.

One proof to this is: PaxMangudadatu won threestraight terms as governor ofSultan Kudarat province de-spite the fact that he was run-ning against Christian oppo-nents in a place where non-Muslim voters are only 25 per-cent. He then won the lone con-

It all began about threeweeks ago with a Commis-sion on Elections (Comelec)Resolution directing thetransfer of the Comelec Sat-ellite Office from CotabatoCity to the Provincial Capi-tol in Maguindanao.

Then another resolutionwas issued, this time direct-ing all candidates in the prov-ince to file their certificatesof candidacy at the provin-cial ‘capitol.’

These resolutions lookedinnocent when read andseen outside the provincial’sconcrete political context.

Anyone in the placeknows that the said resolu-tions follow the logic of thelocal politics and the controlover the Comelec on theground.

Comelec cannot feign ig-

norance of these realities norwashes its hands in the en-suing massacre inMaguindanao.

The concrete experiencesof 2004 and 2007 electionsand the participation ofComelec in the province aretoo gross to ignore.

There is a reason and defi-nitely politics in the physi-cal shifting ‘capitol’ sites inthe province. There is a needto locate the ‘capitol’ in aplace to ensure total control.

For this reason,Maguindanao can qualify toput the capitol building onwheels.

It began in CotabatoCity; then Datu Udtogmoved it to Pagalungan;post-Datu Udtog, it wasmoved back to CotabatoCity; then it was moved to

Maganoy (Sharif Aguak);Zacaria Candao moved itback to Cotabato City; thenhe moved it to a new site inSultan Kudarat.

The Ampatuan movedthe ‘capitol’ back toMaganoy where it nowstands.

The total control of thecapitol ensures absolutecontrol over all governmentmachineries in the capitolsite, including the Comelec,the PNP, and the ArmedForces of the Philippines(AFP).

Months ago, the buzz inthe province and inCotabato City has been thelooming political contest be-tween the Ampatuan clan,the present unquestionedruler of the province and theARMM (Autonomous Re-gion in Muslim Mindanao),and the Mangudadatu clan.

Everybody in town is ac-tually surprised by this chal-lenge coming from the fourMangudadatu young, dar-ing, and dazzling brothers(two mayors, one vice mayorand one assemblyman of theRegional Assembly of the

WILL RP JUSTICE SYSTEM WORK?

‘BLOOD FOR BLOOD’JUSTICE?

gressional seat and his son alsowon handily.

It is but natural for the vot-ers to vote politicians who dono harm or who do more goodthan harm.

With this reputation aboutthe attitude and character ofthe Mangudadatus, can theywithstand the pressure of ex-treme grief and anger over theloss of their women who havebeen insisted to have beenraped before having been killedbrutally in that unforgettableNovember 23, 2009 massacrein Ampatuan, Maguindanao?

Only time and God or Al-lah can tell.

Buluan Vice-Mayor TotoMangudadatu has been spew-ing outrage in all television foot-ages. He always stressed thatMayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. ofDatu Unsay town and thelatter’s 100 armed goons mustanswer.

Toto has been consistent intelling the world that his eye-witnesses now in his custody

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SOCO cops cover the dreaded sight of the dead as the controversial backhoe left on themassacre scene is being used to dig out other victims.

NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 20092

From page 1

AMWSLAI pockets ‘blood money’...

To page 3

‘THE TRUE STORY’

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Publisher:

RONALDO E. RENTA

Editorial:

TOTO CAUSING RONALD B. HERICO

Editor-In-Chief Associate Editor

Disclaimer:

All news articles and opinions expressed by the writers are en-

tirely their own and do not reflect the opinion of the publisher, the

management or the editor of this publication.

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MAGDIWANG

PUBLICATIONS

payments, the deductions fromtheir salaries would have con-tinued until today.

Almost all the demands forrefund were made in 2006.Until now AMWSLAI has notresponded, amounting to mis-appropriating for itself themoney that belongs to lowly-waged workers of Philpost.

The scheme & refusal torefund

Among the about hundredwho complained are postalpolice officer Erano A.Manalata, Manila Central PostOffice mail delivery chiefAnatalia R. Talaboc, FranciscoA. Mangurnong, Marita C.Amores and Adelaida N.Tagadtad.

On 02 July 1999, Manalataavailed of a P69,432 loan butactually received onlyP50,000.00: the total interestfor one year was taken in ad-vance in the amount ofP11,109.12 alleged as the 16%interest and the rest of the

P19,432 were credited as pay-ment for “finance charges.”

For this, Manalata had topay P3,211 a month for 24months or for a total ofP77,064.

When this monthly deduc-tions are added to the P19,432taken at the time of turning overthe loan proceeds, it means thatAMWSLAI earned P96,496for two years out of a loan ofP50,000.

This is almost 100% dis-guised by that advanced pay-ment of interest for one year.

This is fraud!For his part, Talaboc got a

loan from AMWSLAI also in1999 for cash 75,000 pesos,washing machine worth 12,000pesos and an additional loanbefore the end of 1999.

Her contract was to pay forthree years through themonthly deduction agreedupon.

But she was deducted fromher salaries for four (4) years.

“It is supposed to be paid

up in three (3) years but mydeduction exceeded the timeframe and was stopped byPhilpost’s NCR AccountingSection only in February 2004.When I went to AWMSLAI lastMarch 2006 in order to get myclearance, I was told that I stillhad a balance of 29,000 pesos,more or less. I was expecting Iwould get a refund because myremittances totaled 180,299.00pesos. I was told I can have acondonation in the amount of19,000 pesos but I have still topay a cash of more than 9,000pesos,” she said.

Talaboc said further:“I had a bout with cancer in

the year 2001 and was on sickleave for seven months, but Inever requested for a stoppageof my remittance withAWMSLAI as what I did tomy other loans.”

She said her payments of180,000 exceeded than the87,000 pesos she should pay.

“AMWSLAI is too much,”she cried.

For his part, Mangurnongtook in February 1999 a loanamounting to 35,000 pesos.

“I understand that there wasalready a deduction made asadvance payment of interest.Since October 2000 up to June2005, the amount of P2,055.15was automatically deductedfrom my monthly salary,” hesaid.

This means he must havealready paid a total of108,922.95 pesos and this didnot include yet the paymentshe made from July 2005 up tothe month of March 2006.

“Considering that the totalamount of P108,922.95 was al-ready made and because I hadonly P35,000.00 loan, thiswould mean I have an overpay-ment of more than P73,922.95,”Mangurnong said.

Amores has her own storyof depression, too.

“Noon pong taong 1998,ako po ay nangutang saAMWSLAI ng halagang

From page 1

ARMM).The leader of the clan and

the main challenger is thepresent Vice Mayor ofBuluan, Datu Ismael ‘Toto’Mangudadatu.

The challenge came as abig surprise, because theAmpatuan clan is ‘inti-mately’ connected to Presi-dent Gloria Macapagal Ar-royo and the Lakas-Kampi-CMD Party both in 2004 and2007 national elections.

The convergence of thepolitical and electoralagenda of President Arroyoand the Ampatuans is wellknown both in the nationaland local levels.

The challenge emergedwhen talks that the ‘senior’Ampatuan is no longerqualified to run as governorof the province.

The name of the ‘junior’Ampatuan has begun tosurface as the clan bet forwho they thought wouldrun for the uncontestedgovernorship in the prov-ince come May 2010.

This developmentsparked talks and counter-talks of contesting the gov-ernorship, which led to shift-

ing political alliances, espe-cially with the waning of thestar of Malacañang and herofficial candidates.

The relations betweenPresident Arroyo and theAmpatuans hinged on asymbiosis of political andelectoral interests and asdemonstrated by the clan’s‘outstanding’ delivery ca-pacity in all electoral exer-cises held in the province ofMaguindanao.

When we speak of cap-tive electorate, I refer to‘managed’ and ‘owned’elections.

Political parties and can-didates also refer to the en-tire ARMM as ‘captive’ elec-torate. This is not a simpleperception but the ‘actualballot’ counts’ attest to this‘winner take all’ elections.

This fact is known alsoto the Comelec.

No doubt, if electoralanomalies happen, thepeople who manage and se-cure the elections are equallycontrolled.

In most instances, theteachers and officials of theComelec, including the PNPhave little or no choices at all.

Their lives and their fami-

lies, as well, are in jeopardy.The Comelec resolution

transferring its satellite officein Sharif Aguak and the re-quirement to file the certifi-cates of candidacy in the‘capitol’ is NOT as innocentas it looks unless Comelecwere born yesterday!

This Comelec decision hasforced the Mangudadatu togo into the heartland of theAmpatuan clan.

The Vice Mayor TotoMangudadatu decided to goand file his certificate of can-didacy.

But he was prevailedupon by the mother to let thewomen do the filing.

The clan believed thatToto’s presence in Aguakmay lead to actual blood-shed.

The mother and the reli-gious leaders believed thatan all-women delegation ac-companied by media peopleand women lawyers wouldbe respected.

Islam strongly enjoinsbelievers to respect womenand children even duringtimes of war.

As a double insurance forthe delegation, theMangudadatu has asked for

police escorts from the PNPProvincial command. It re-fused to do so.

Understanding the per-ceived partisanship of theMaguindanao PNP, the clanasked for military escort fromthe 601st Brigade that has anoperational responsibility forarea.

They were told that theAFP does not provide secu-rity escorts for politicians.

The clan appealed to thehighest military command inthe region for a security es-cort for the women.

They were assured by thehighest military commandthat the ‘road is safe andthere will be no need toworry.’

With that assurance, theall-women delegation beganthe trek to Sharif Aguak.

Upon crossing Salmanalong the national highwayin broad daylight inAmpatuan municipality, theconvoy was stopped, includ-ing other vehicles that hap-pened to passing by at thattime.

Their journey was haltedby hundreds of armedgroups believed to be CVOs[civilian volunteer organiza-tions] that included someprovincial PNP officials anda local mayor positivelyidentified by theMangudadatu.

The entire convoy wasled to an open pit dug byprovincial engineeringequipment.

There the carnage beganwith brutality and no mercyfor women, children, and themembers of the media.

The last vehicle in theconvoy, delayed by fewminutes, saw the wholegang that stopped the con-voy and made positive iden-tification.

It turned back with speedand asked for help. But alas,the help came too late.

There were no survivors!

The first count was 21fatalities in the afternoon ofthe same day. These werethe bodies left on theground and in the vehiclesbecause of the haste.

The second day, thebody count reached 46 asinvestigators began to digthe mass graves.

On the third day, thenumber has reached morethan 60. They were all mur-dered with so much brutal-ity that can only be com-pared to victims of savageanimals in the wild.

The digging continuesand the body counts con-tinue to rise. TheMangudadatu can only ac-count for 40 members oftheir convoy.

Beyond that numberwere innocent passersbywho happened to be travel-ing the same road at thatparticular moment.

These innocent pass-ersby include children!

They buried the wholevehicles with the murderedpassengers.

Seemingly, the intent wasto bury all the vehicles andall the victims in that bighole dug by the provincial‘backhoe.’

But there was news thatthe troops were coming.

This made the perpetra-tors to hurriedly leave thescene without completingtheir evil intent.

Today, the people ofMaguindanao and Cotabato

City continue to be in a stateof total disbelief wheneverthey hear news about themassacre as it continues tounfold.

They are stunned andshocked! The real word isfeeling of revulsion for howthings stand in the provinceand the community.

The Comelec has now al-lowed the filing of candi-dacy in Cotabato and in Sul-tan Kudarat without filingfor an exception.

It has also returned thesatellite office in the city.

Comelec shares theblame for this massacre.

Ignorance can never bean excuse! It is a very costlypolitical decision!

Knowing the close tiesbetween the President Ar-royo and the Ampatuan, thePresidency and the nationalgovernment are directlyheld accountable!

People ask, will there beimmediate arrests of theidentified perpetrators ofthe massacre?

Three days have passedby and there is not a singlearrest made yet...! Will therebe honest and objective in-vestigation of the massa-cre?

While we debate overthe massacre, the perpetra-tors and the hundreds ofCVOs, bearing high-pow-ered firearms, and identifiedleaders of the massacreroam freely and with impu-nity. Onli in da Pilipins!

SOCO cops recover a dead body from the grave.

Newspaper pages cover a dead body to hide a sight of ahuman body without its head.

3NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 2009

P50,000.00. Sapagka’t saahente po kami nag-apply,meron pong kasamang appli-ances na ipinautang din sa aminbilang dagdag na kita ng ahente.Sa kopya po ng voucher ko,ang kabuuhang halaga ng utangko ay P98,000.00. Simula poakong nabawasan okinakaltasan noong 1999 nghalagang P2,751 kada buwan.Mahigit na pong apat na taonna akong nabawasan at lumakina po ang naibayad ko kasamana ang interes o tubo. Ako poay isang single parent at angaking nag-iisang anak ay nasakoleheyo na po. Kailangan ko

po ng pera ngayon. Napakalakipo nang maitutulong ng perangmaaari kong ma-refund saAMWSLAI,” she complained.

On the other hand, Tagadtadavailed of her loan fromAMWSLAI in 1999.

She religiously paid all hermonthly amortizations throughsalary deductions.

In fact, she was issued byAMWSLAI with certificationof full payment dated 21 De-cember 2005 duly signed bySocorro T. Gustillo, branchhead of AMWSLAI for theamount of P116,768.00.

Since PhilPost deductedfrom her salary a total of

P227,454.95 which was remit-ted to AMWSLAI, Tagadtadwas expecting she would bereceiving a refund ofP110,686.95, excluding inter-est.

Refund the excess, now

Tirso N. Paglicawan, Jr.,president of the Kapisanan ngmga Kawani ng Koreo saPilipinas (KKKP), lamentedthe fact and has sympathizedwith his fellow postal employ-ees who have becomeAMWSLAI “victim - borrow-ers.”

He said that he himself ex-

From page 2

AMWSLAI pockets ‘blood money’...

KORONADAL CITY, SouthCotabato – What is now knownhere as the Ampatuan massacrewiped out the staff of the five-year old pioneering vernacularnewsweekly Periodico Ini (ThisPeriodical) here and left othernews organizations in five townsmissing a staff or two.

Police and military officialsyesterday said the total casualtylist has already breached the 57th

mark, with the recovery of theremains of ten more victims,three of whom were journalists.

A list pieced together byCenterLaw from interviews withvictims’ families and informationprovided by local journalists’ as-sociations show that among thoseconfirmed dead or declared miss-ing were at least 27 journalists.

Ten of the journalists camefrom General Santos City; an-other ten from Koronadal City;four from Tacurong City; twofrom Davao City, and one fromCotabato City.

Other news reports howeversay up to 37 journalists were onthat convoy.

Below is the list compiled bythe Center, which also showed,with the exception of two cases,the journalists’ news organiza-tion:

1. Ian Subang, Socsargen To-day, General Santos City

2. Lea Dalmacio, SocsargenNews, General Santos City

3. Gina De la Cruz, Saksi News,General Santos City

4. Maritess Cablitas, NewsFocus, General Santos City

5. Rosell Morales, News Fo-cus, General Santos City

6. Henry Araneta, RadioDZRH, General Santos City

7. Neneng Montaño, SaksiNews, General Santos City

8. Alejandro “Bong”Reblando, Manila Bulletin, Gen-eral Santos City

9. Victor Nuñez, UNTV, Gen-eral Santos City

10. Mark Gilbert “Mac-Mac”Arriola, General Santos City

11. Bal Cachuela, PuntoNews, Koronadal City

12. Ernesto “Bart”Maravilla, Bombo Radyo,Koronadal City

13. Ronie Perante, Gold StarDaily correspondent, KoronadalCity

14. Joel Parcon, ProntieraNews, Koronadal City

15. Jun Legarte, ProntieraNews, Koronadal City

16. Rey Merisco, PeriodicoIni, Koronadal City

17. John Caniban, PeriodicoIni, Koronadal City

18. Arturo Betia, PeriodicoIni, Koronadal City

perienced their predicamentsfor he also availed ofAMWSLAI loan of 50,000pesos for a loan amounting toseventy thousand pesos(P70,000).

Paglicawan explained thatAMWSLAI immediately de-ducted in advance huge amount,interest, processing fee, etc.from the loan he availed of then.

There were about a hundredother Philpost employees whoare in the same predicament.

For this, they are appealingto Lt. Col. Ricardo L. Nolasco(ret), chairman and presidentof AMWSLAI, to give theirrefunds now.

All staffers of a weekly wiped out• Latest count shows 27 newsmen confirmed dead;

• Authorities struggle in evidence gathering

By Romel Regalado

BagaresExecutive Director

Center for InternationalLaw

19. Noel Decena, PeriodicoIni, Koronadal City

20. Rani Razon, PeriodicoIni, Koronadal City

21. Jhoy Duhay, Gold StarDaily, Tacurong City

22. Andy Teodoro, CentralMindanao Inquirer, TacurongCity

23. Jimmy Cabilo, MidlandReview, Tacurong City

24. Reynaldo “Bebot”Momay, Midland Review,Tacurong City

25. Napoleon Salaysay,Mindanao Gazette, Cotabato City

26. Jun Gatchalian, DavaoCity

27. Lindo Lupogan, DavaoCity

Of the 27, two men – Momayand Lupogan – have remainedmissing, according to interviewswith members of their families.

So far, CenterLaw has beenable to confer with the familiesof 12 of the slain journalists onlegal assistance.

Two local journalists’ associa-tion pledged to assist CenterLawreach out to more families.

A periodical’s entire staffwiped out

“I did not know my wholestaff had gone to join that fatefultrip,” said Freddie E. Solinap,the 40-year old editor and pub-lisher of the newsweekly, whichis published in Hiligaynon, aVisayan language spoken by agood majority of this city’s160,000 residents.

On Monday, some 100 gun-men linked to Maguindanao Gov-ernor Andal Ampatuan allegedlyabducted in broad daylight a con-voy of aides and relatives of arival politician, Esmael “Toto”Mangudadatu, and a group of jour-nalists, as they were travelling ina six-vehicle convoy headed forthe local Commission on Elec-tions office to formally fileMangudadatu’s certificate of can-didacy for the post now occupiedby Ampatuan.

Hours later, news broke outthat the convoy had been massa-cred – said to be the single deadli-est attack on journalists in mod-ern history.

Solinap and his wifeNormalita, 38, founded thePeriodico Ini newsweekly afteryears of working as a sales man-ager for another weekly.

The enormity of the situa-tion was brought home to thecouple after they took stock ofwhat the carnage cost thenewsweekly and their loyal read-ers: the newsweekly lost JohnCaniban, bureau chief in nearbySultan Kudarat town, ArturoBetia, marketing manager, NoelDecena, circulation manager whoalso doubles as a reporter, RaniRazon, sales manager and ReyMerisco, columnist.

Many of the slain journalistsworked in small community pa-pers dependent largely on paidlegal notices, with some of themputting out no more than 50 cop-ies of their publications weekafter week.

According to news reports,the gunmen fired at the victimspointblank, with some of themtrussed up, tortured or mutilated.The suspects later on dumped orburied their victims in massgraves scattered all over a smallarea in a town named after theincumbent governor’s familyname.

Mangudadatu was quoted innews reports as saying that thebody of his murdered wife hadbeen mutilated; a sister and anaunt who joined his wife in theconvoy were both pregnant.

“My wife’s private parts wereslashed four times, after whichthey fired a bullet into it,” hetold journalists in an interview.“They speared both of her eyes,shot both her breasts, cut off herfeet, fired into her mouth. I couldnot begin to describe the mannerby which they treated her.”

Haphazard evidencehandling

The chief worry now is theuphill battle crime investigatorsare now fighting against the ele-ments as the political and secu-rity crisis entered the third day –official autopsies on the recov-ered victims’ remains have beenpainstakingly slow and an acutelack of sophisticated forensicequipment and facilities, madeworse by the haphazard handlingby investigators of the crimescene, has made evidence preser-vation essential to a successfulprosecution of the perpetratorsdoubly difficult.

Officials of the NationalUnion of Journalists of the Phil-ippines (NUJP) who visited thecrime scene were appalled to wit-ness police Scene of the CrimeOperatives (SOCO), assisted bygovernment troops, use a back-hoe to dig up the remains of vic-tims allegedly buried by their kill-ers in a newly-discovered gravein Barangay Salman, Ampatuantown. They arrived just in timeto see the backhoe’s claw uneartha woman’s bloodied and brokenbody.

Authorities pulled out fromthe same mass grave the remainsof DZRH’s Henry Araneta, andUNTV’s Victor Nuñez and MarkGilbert “Mac-Mac” Arriola, it wassubsequently reported.

Racing against time:complaints and confusion

Families of the victims, frus-trated by the patently disorga-nized response of governmentagencies to the tragedy, con-fronted Jesus Dureza, the special

envoy sent by Philippine Presi-dent Arroyo to condole withthem, during a dialogue at theCasa Romana hotel here.

“Why is it taking them solong to conduct an autopsy onthe remains of our loved ones?”said Elliver M. Cablitas, whosewife Maritess, a reporter con-nected with the News Focus news-paper based in General SantosCity, died in the massacre.

Five government doctors –three from the National Bureauof Investigation and two fromthe Philippine National PoliceCrime Laboratory Service – hadbeen working round-the-clock toconduct autopsies on the recov-ered remains of the victims. Asof noon time yesterday, theyhave completed work on only tenof the bodies brought in from thecrime scene 45 kilometers awayin Ampatuan town.

At the rate they’re going, saidCablitas, the remains of his wifewould have long been decomposedbefore the government doctorsget the chance to do an autopsy.

The lack of refrigeration fa-cilities to keep the remains fromdecomposition is complicatingthe grim task of identifying thevictims and preserving evidence,according to Dr. Benito Molino,a veteran forensics investigatorengaged by CenterLaw to assistauthorities in investigative work.

“We have to move faster,”said Molino, who has spent manyyears in human rights work as amedical expert for the MedicalAction Group and the Asian Fed-eration Against Involuntary Dis-appearance (AFAD). “The gov-ernment has not fielded enoughmedico-legal officers to do theautopsies.”

Human remains recoveredfrom the crime scene are takento four funeral homes in the city– Allen Memorial Homes, ZubiriFuneral Homes, Southern FuneralHomes and Saint Peter FuneralHomes.

But Dr. Molino said he vis-ited the morgues of Allen Me-morial Homes and Southern Fu-neral Homes and on the basis of

what he saw there, concluded thatthey are not adequately equippedto handle the kind of emergencypresented by the Ampatuan mas-sacre.

“I pity the government doc-tors who had to do the gruesometask,” he said. “They have somuch work with so little.” He saidas it often happens in the Philip-pines, government investiga-tive agencies do not have ad-equate facilities to preserve hu-man remains recovered in crimeinvestigations.

The Ampatuan massacre is noexception. “They could have atleast used lime to slow down theprocess of decomposition but Idid not see any indication thatthey did that,” said Dr. Molino.

The authorities could havealso run comprehensive X-rayson the recovered remains to as-sist investigators in locating bul-let fragments as well as establish-ing bullet trajectories, consider-ing that many of the victims werenoted to have sustained exten-sive bullet wounds.

But this very simple proce-dure will certainly have provento be prohibitive for often cash-strapped government investiga-tive agencies to perform, he said.

Dr. Molino said he found itincredulous that no one from thepolice immediately informed thefamilies of victims to bring itemsthat would help them identifytheir loved ones’ remains, suchas photographs and dental andmedical records.

In fact, until yesterday, manyof them remained clueless aboutthe proper procedure to take.Some had the good luck of beingable to identify loved onesthrough the clothes, ring or shoesthey wore to their deaths. Otherslooked for well-known physicalidentifying marks on their lovedones’ bodies – such as moles ontheir faces – to identify them.But this would have been diffi-cult, if not impossible, to do, incases where the remains have al-ready reached an advanced stageof decomposition.

In many instances, after iden-tifying the remains of their lovedones at the crime scene, familiescould not trace to which morgueor funeral home the victims’ re-mains were taken, thus adding tothe confusion.

It was certainly a commoncomplaint at the dialogue withthe victims’ families presided byDureza, an assistant press secre-tary, and local social welfare of-ficials struggled to cope with thelitany of complaints.

Dureza admitted such was thecase, and noted that at the Zubirifuneral homes for example, fourof the 14 bodies brought there byrecovery teams have yet to beidentified.

Dureza authorized the releasethrough the local social welfareoffice financial assistance to thevictims from the national gov-ernment in the amount ofP10,000 (P46.9 to USD 1). Healso gave assurances that the na-

tional government will shoulderother funeral costs.

CenterLaw later took up in adinner meeting the concernsabout the haphazard way inwhich evidence vital to the suc-cessful prosecution of the case isbeing handled with State Pros-ecutor Leo Dacera and KidapawanCity Prosecutor Al Calica, bothof whom, according to reports,had just been tapped by the jus-tice department to prepare thecase against the suspects.

The government prosecutorssaid they welcome assistance fromlawyers’ groups in the investiga-tion and prosecution of the case.

Too, CenterLaw is now look-ing to lease a refrigerated van tostore the recovered human re-mains from Ampatuan town anda suitable space with a generoussupply of water where autopsiesmay be conducted.

Shock, disbelief, anger

Shock, disbelief and anger hadby turns swept over a closely-knit community of local journal-ists in the region.

“This is just too much,” saidJoseph Jubelag, Manila StandardToday correspondent based inGeneral Santos City. He nar-rowly-missed the deadly convoyafter a hotel incident gave himand colleague Aquiles Zoño of thePhilippine Daily Inquirer thegoose bumps and convinced themto break off it.

Jubelag, whose family runs asmall printing press, had beentasked by colleagues to overseethe repatriation of the remainsof General Santos City-basedjournalists killed in theAmpatuan massacre back to theirhome city.

“Many of us feel like we havelost our very own,” he said. “Ourproblem is that no autopsy hasbeen done yet on our colleague’sremains so that we cannot yetbring them home.”

Jubelag expressed anger overthe government’s continuingfailure to put a stop to the impu-nity that has targeted journalistsin the Philippines. “When willthis stop?”

Around 200 people attendeda candlelit indignation rally at thecity rotunda early yesterdayevening , punctuated by messagesof solidarity from local officials,church leaders, and various jour-nalists’ organizations.

At the protests, many voicedout fears of a whitewash in theinvestigations, taking special notethat the Ampatuans are a closepolitical ally of the Arroyos.

But for Freddie E. Solinap,editor and publisher of theweekly Periodico Ini, no mas-sacre can dissuade him from pur-suing his vision of journalism.“I remain undaunted,” he said,adding that he and his wife con-tinue to encourage their threechildren to seriously considertaking up journalism as a pro-fession and continuing the fam-ily heritage.

Dead bodies being loaded onto a dump truck

NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 20094

Common-but-misunderstoodpsychological incapacity

PSYCHOLOGICAL inca-pacity is the most used,abused and confusedwords inside and outsidethe legal world. Peoplehear it from radio, read iton the papers. At times,it is a topic in your favor-ite afternoon tele–novelas.

In fact, it is already ahousehold word for a lotFilipinos. You may heareven uneducated personand those uninitiated inthe legal world to utterthese two words withconfidence as if he or shetruly and thoroughly un-derstood the coinage.

Housewives even usethese words in their ordi-nary conversation to de-scribe their husbandswho continue to provideless for the family whileliving like a bachelor inunabated drinking spreesand unbridle womaniz-ing.

Psychological inca-pacity is being abusedmostly by legal practitio-ners in their search for avalid ground to declareone’s marriage null.

It’s deplorable thatmany lawyers use thesewords like magic wandwhen he can no longerfind any loopholes in the

essential and formal requi-sites of marriage and othergrounds for annulments ornullity of marriage. Unfor-tunately, many lawyers donot understand thesewords. And the worst ofmany lawyers is that theyalso suffer from unresolvedpsychological-incapacityissues with their marriageor their selves.

What does psychologi-cal incapacity mean? Doesthe law or jurisprudencehave exact and commondefinition of psychologicalincapacity?

Sadly, the Family Codehad avoided providingclear and exact definitionof what psychological in-capacity is. Even the NewCode of Canon Law, par-ticularly paragraph 3 ofCanon 1095, the source ofArticle 36 of the FamilyCode, did not attempt todefine what psychologicalincapacity means.

The closest we got isthe pronouncements of theSupreme Court in the caseof Santos versus Court ofAppeals (240 SCRA 20)where psychological inca-pacity is defined as “noless than a mental (notphysical) incapacity thatcauses a party to be trulyincognitive of the basic

marital covenants thatconcomitantly be assumedand discharged by the par-ties to the marriage whichas so expressed by Article68 of the Family Code, in-clude the mutual obliga-tions to live together, ob-serve love, respect and fi-delity and render help andsupport”

For our consumption, Iwill attempt to define theterm in the most under-standable way so that Iwill not be guilty of obfus-cation and add to a grow-ing confusion.

Psychological incapac-ity means that it exists in aperson suffering frompsychological problems orissues that prevent him orher from complying with orfulfilling essential maritalobligations, where there isno cure and the incapacitywas already there even be-fore the marriage was cel-ebrated.

This seems rathervague.

But culled from suchdefinition we can deductthat psychological inca-pacity is not mental illnessof any sort. It is not beinglunatic or crazy. A personsuffering from a psycho-logical incapacity is notthe same as one suffering

from any mental illness ormalaise. Psychological in-capacity is not a physicalhandicap or disability. Aperson suffering from apsychological incapacityis not the same as a personsuffering from physical ill-ness or problem.

Another decision ofthe Supreme Court in thecase of Molina effectivelyprovided stricter param-eters for the concept ofpsychological incapacityto exist.

It was noted that priorto the Molina case therewas an avalanche of ac-tions seeking declarationsof nullity of marriages un-der Article 36 of the FamilyCode. This deluge of thesekinds of cases may be dueto somewhat liberalizedconstruction of the defini-tion of such terms.

In the Molina case, theHigh Tribunal tried toclarify that psychologicalincapacity does not meanpersonality conflicts be-tween husband and wife orsome irreconcilable differ-ences between spouses.

The landmark decisionin Molina case suppliedthree characteristics ofpsychological incapacity.It says that psychologicalincapacity must be charac-

VERY RARE is the support displayed by Sen. EDANGARA for Sen. LOREN LEGARDA when she declaredshe will run for vice-president in 2010 elections.

Like this, the LDP (Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino,de-facto political party of Sen. Angara) is in full supportof Sen. Loren ‘pan de sal’.

Anyway, it is no longer new to our ears for SenatorAngara to give all-out support to Senator Loren.

We and those in the Senate know that all kinds ofsupport, morally, emotionally, even financially, and physi-cally will be given by Senator Angara to his fellow politi-cian he knows who can compete.

So that you should not wonder why and stop askingwhy Senator Angara is in FULL SUPPORT of SenatorLoren, “Ang sinta ng bayan ...”

 WILL LIBERAL PARTY SHIP SINK?

 IT IS MILDLY NERVE-WRACKING looking at what is

happening now with LIBERAL PARTY.Oh man, most of those who jumped ship from LAKAS-

KAMPI-CMD went aboard LP?Is it not that LP’s ship has become “HEAVIER” and

will continue to sink for welcoming aboard those have“HEAVY” pockets from the public coffers?

Tsk tsk tsk …With pain inside of ex-Senator Serge Osmeña, he would

rather go out of the party than be lumped together withthose who POCKETED money of the people.

We learned that the party had an agreement not toaccept those coming from the Arroyo administration, par-ticularly those who deserted LP before.

They agreed that the public already knows the oppor-tunist politicians who benefited from the administrationbut they were surprised that these were even the first tojump out of LAKAS-KAMPI-CMD.

Talaga naman …We have a saying in Philippine politics: “there is no

Sen. Loren is ‘so loved’by Sen. Ed Angara

permanent friend or enemy.” According to Erap: “Weder-weder lang ‘yan!”

 BAGMEN a.k.a. ‘KOLEK-TONG’ GALORE AT DILG

 The complaints of 1602 operators had it that they are

wondering why every now and then many persons showup to them to identify as a BAGMAN or “KOLEK-TONG”of PNP-CIDG, PNP-NCRPO and DILG.

Has this not yet reached the knowledge of Interior andLocal Government (DILG) Secretary RONNIE PUNO?

Like this one, alias “GERRY SALAKOT” who identifiedhimself as the NATIONAL COLLECTOR for the “PUSHBUTTON” at the DILG, CIDG, SPD, NCRPO and PNP R-3.

If I were correct, this “Gerry Salakot” was once a do-it-all man of “BOY TANGKAD.”

Is it not that this man had something to do with themurder of “BOY TANGKAD” last month at Ping PingLechon?

One PNP general said: Only in these times of Sec. PUNOthat the collection racket from gambling operators is worstand all 1602 and other illegal gambling operators can oper-ate with impunity in the entire Philippines.

What can you say, DILG Asec. BRYAN YAMSUAN?

FR. VICTORINO CUETO and FR. FRANK PIGNONBLIND, DEAF AND DUMB

ON ‘SODOM AND GOMORRAH’AND WHITEBIRD GAY CLUB?

 If Parañaque local government and its police force

headed by Police Supt. Alfredo Valdez are not minding the“piggery” and lewdness (KABABUYAN atKALASWAAN) there inside WHITEBIRD CLUB, it is veryclear that they are easily cowed into fear by PRs (read:PROTECTION RACKETEERs) who are like hungry straydogs going around to all those who criticize their “protec-torates” to ask for ceasefire as a gift.

It would appear that they wanted to settle the prob-lem. But the truth is that they would seek to add “TONG-PATS” from the operator.

And because the management of WHITEBIRD knowsthat there are “piggery”, immorality and lewdness takingplace inside their establishment, it cannot say no to thepersons who are talking to them as PRs who are“ASKAL.”

But what is more revolting to conscience is the deaf-ening silence of (more silent than the church that wasdowned) of BACLARAN REDEMPTORIST Church Rec-tor Fr. VICTORINO CUETO and HOUSE SUPERIOR FR.FRANK PIGNON.

No less than PARISHIONERS of REDEMPTORISTChurch are wondering why their church has been ex-traordinarily quiet to “ SODOM AND GOMORAH” eventshappening nightly in Baclaran, on Roxas Boulevard.

Here it is, Fathers CUETO and PIGNON. Accordingto the “askals” of WHITEBIRD, even the two of youcannot have the closure of WHITEBIRD CLUB becauseyour people who are “gay” are entering the hell rightthere.

According to our blogger boy, the “YoungMagdalenas” in other clubs in Baclaran can be forgivenbut for man-to-man acts to occur inside WHITEBIRDcannot be stopped by Father CUETO and Father PIGNONalthough it is only a few meters away from theRedemptorist Church.

Even if we concede this should be a job of local andpolice authorities, but please do not forget that you asmoral leaders have the OBLIGATION to the society.

It is already extremely immoral, Fr. CUETO and youracquiescence Fr. PIGNON has already exceeded the lim-its.

If you will not act on this, we would believe that youhave people who are “gay” who play fire insideWHITEBIRD.

What do you think?

By RONALDO E. RENTA

TTTTTRAILBLAZERAILBLAZERAILBLAZERAILBLAZERAILBLAZERRRRR

Jerry’s BlogsBy JERRY S. YAP

terized by gravity, juridicalantecedence and incura-bility.

In effect, the SupremeCourt gave strict charac-terizations of what is psy-chological incapacity isand virtually make it diffi-cult for parties to secure adeclaration of non-exist-ence of their marriage un-der Article 36 of the Su-preme Court.

In other words, psy-chological incapacity is apsychological illness thatprevents a person fromfulfilling his or her essen-tial marital obligationsand such illness is grave,cannot be cured andpresent at the time of thecelebration of marriageeven it manifests only af-ter the consummation ofmarriage.

If your counsel de-cided to invoke Article 36of the Family Code to filean action for the declara-tion of nullity of marriageunder that ground, moreoften than not, your coun-sel would provide or re-fer to you a credible andprofessional clinical psy-chologis t who wouldgreatly help you navigatethrough the maze of un-tangl ing your mari ta lknot.

Your clinical psy-chologist would fulfillthree-fold function inyour journey to freedom,to wit:

1 . Examinat ion –Your clinical psycholo-gist shall examine youby administering vari-ous psychologicaltests, such as but notlimited to “Draw a Pic-ture Test, Complete theSentence Tests, Ror-schach Test and otherprojective tests.

2. Evaluation – Yourclinical psychologistshal l a lso prepare ,evaluate and producepsychological evalua-t ions or reports thatshall be presented tothe courts in order tosupport that such ill-ness is indeed grave, in-curable and has juridi-cal antecedence.

3. Expert Witness –Your clinical psycholo-gist shall also stand asexpert witness to proveyour cause of action.

That if you have suc-ceeded in your datewith the psychologist,you are nearing to afeat: you are little bylittle and step by stepprogress ing in yourpursuit of the holy grail.

5NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 2009

‘BLOOD FOR BLOOD’ JUSTICE

Manny Pacquiao is now a history,will he get into politics?

PrivilegedSpitsBy TOTO CAUSING

By JOEY GALICIA VENANCIO

Police Posts

By TOTO FETALINO

The LastMohican

Loren will show how man enough is Mar

I DON’T really understandwhy Gilberto Teodoropicked actor Edu Manzanoas his running mate in the2010 elections.

Gibo has been in thecellar of the presidentialsurvey and I thought hewould choose a runningmate that could somehowhelp in improving his rat-ing.

No Edu. I’m not under-estimating you. You havethe skills and the experi-ence. You served publicoffice in Makati. But theseare at the local level. Eduserved as the chief of theOptics Media Board but his

performance has not beennoticed.

I believed Gibo neededsomebody who has thegrasp for national issues.Somebody who has a deepunderstanding of what’shappening in the country.

Ok fine. Edu is a nationalfigure. But this is confinedmore on what he’s doing ona TV game show. Come onman, let’s be serious. Ournational government de-serves a little respect here.

* * *Another surprise is

Manny Villar’s choice of hisvice-presidential tandem.

Surprising because after

a long wait, Manny endedup with Senator LorenLegarda.

Manny was a victim ofbackstabbing and disloyaltyin the Senate. He lost theSenate presidency becausethe people he thought wouldsupport him turned out to benot for him after all.

so I thought Manny wastaking his time in carefullychoosing his running mate.He needed a buddy whowould stick with him throughthick and thin. He must runalongside somebody not af-ter his untimely ouster if everhe is elected president nextyear.

Is that Loren? Does hetruly trust the lady senator?

I was watching Loren de-

livering her speech after theNacionalista Party officiallyproclaimed her as its vice-presidential bet. She spokeas she was the presidentialbet. She sounded good. Infact, good enough to unseatManny if they both win.

* * *It’s still quiet. The silence

may last until the end of De-cember. But I suspect hell willbreak loose early next year.It can be already war in Janu-ary.

Of course I’m referring topolitics. Politicians may starthowling at the start of theyear to draw early attentionfrom the voting public.

The possibilities are theymay promote themselves orthrow mud at their oppo-

nents. In fact, they may doboth to advance their politi-cal ambitions.

I can’t imagine this hap-pening to Gibo and Noynoy.Both vowed to refrain fromdoing so because they comefrom one clan.

Given the two candidatesare gentlemen enough to liveup to their promises, theirsupporters are likely not tofollow their convictions.

* * *Mar Roxas is an early fa-

vorite in the vice presiden-tial race. He may not be asstrong as a presidential betbut he is somebody to beatin the next lower position.

And Loren knows thisfor sure. Just as she knewhow strong Noli De Castro

was when they were pit-ted against each other inthe 2004 vice-presidentialrace.

The camp of Lorenknows the art of war dur-ing elections. This knowl-edge almost snatched thevice presidency from DeCastro. In fact, given a littlemore time to exercise thatknowledge before the cast-ing of ballots in 2004, thecamp of Loren should havesucceeded in catapultingher as the next highest offi-cial of the land. And his-tory would have been dif-ferent.

So Roxas must be pre-pared for what’s coming.Loren will show how manenough is Mar.

TODAY, Manny Pacquiaois the only boxer since thebeginning to have wonseven titles in seven divi-sions or weight classes. Hecemented his name in his-tory!

It was after he subduedin the first 55 seconds ofthe 12th round the cham-pion of World Boxing Or-ganization (WBO) welter-weight division, MiguelCotto of Puerto Rico.

Before Pacquiao gotthe title of Cotto, he be-came the champion of IBOand Ring Magazine lightwelterweight, World Box-ing Council (WBC) light-

weight, WBC super feath-erweight, IBF super bantam-weight and WBC flyweight.

He is also called as theworld’s Pound-for-PoundKing by Ring Magazine,considered the dictionary inthe world of boxing.

Now, he also holds theWBC diamond belt.

Is there still anybodywho can defeat Pacquiao?

It was said that the re-turning former pound-for-pound king FloydMayweather Jr. will be thenext who will fight againstPacquiao. It may happennext year.

Mayweather won

against Juan ManuelMarquez in his comebackfight. But he cheated byfighting in a much biggerweight compared toMarquez who complied withthe agreed lower weight.

Let us review the fightagainst Cotto.

The Puerto Rican cham-pion was downed twice inthe third and fourth roundsby the Pinoy greatestfighter.

Although the PuertoRican survived theknockdowns, he never es-caped from the continuouspounding of left and rightpunches that came from ev-

erywhere.In the 11th round, Cotto

was very obvious to beonly trying to stay stand-ing to finish the round andhoping to complete the 12th

round in his bid to avoid theworst shame of failing to lastthe distance. Much morethat the shame was in themind of Cotto because hewas knew he was facingclear defeat in the hands ofa smaller fighter in the per-son of Pacquiao.

Pacquiao used his speedand strength on both handsto get the seventh title andcement his name as thegreatest pound-for-pound

fighter in the world.Cotto was downed by

the right fist of Pacquiaoearly of the 3rd round. Butthe Puerto Rican escapedand finished the round yetstrong.

In the 4th round, Cottowas showed varied movesand he became dumb-founded that he lost aggres-siveness.

Even if Cotto finished 12rounds, he still will loss byunanimous decision. In allthree judges’ scorecards,Pacquiao was far ahead thateven if the Filipinos lost the11 th and 12 th round our“Pambansang Kamao” will

still end up the victor.But I love Cotto

so much for his gentlemanconduct. He exhibited thebest of sportsmanship.After the referee stoppedthe fight, Cotto ap-proached Pacquiao andwaited for the Filipino tofinish praying. Thereafter,Cotto embraced the Fili-pino.

Pacquiao is now here inthe Philippines. He is ex-pected to launch his con-gressional bid inSaranggani.

In his first political at-tempt, which he did in

To page 7

saw how his wife was raped,speared off of her privateparts, shot on two boobs andthe private part, and firedupon point-blank on her face.

He is also consistent in in-sisting that his two sisters,both pregnant, also sufferedthe fate of his wife.

What is more, Toto’s out-rage has been fueled furtherby his moral obligation to atleast 27 media persons whomhe invited to accompany hiswife and his two lady law-yers in filing his certificate ofcandidacy for the governor-ship of Maguindanao.

He cannot back out fromthis obligation to the peopleother than his relatives be-cause it was his desire to runfor governor, represented bya piece of paper, that costtheir lives.

Pax, considered as the pa-triarch of the Mangudadatus,has strictly ordered his rela-tives not to start a bloodyrevenge and give the justicesystem a chance.

The present governor ofSultan Kudarat, a neighborprovince of Maguindanao, isTeng Mangudadatu, a son ofPax and a cousin of Toto.

But the killing is,

unarguably, too extreme to resistto take justice in their own hands.

Actually, what has not beenexpected and talked about is thepossible revenge of the Ilonggofamilies who lost their relativesin the November 23, 2009 in-famous massacre in Ampatuantown.

The Ilonggo victims in thatmost-brutal-ever massacre arereporters and the two lady law-yers.

Lest, no one should forgetthat during the height of MoroNational Liberation Front re-bellion in the early 1970s, itwas the Ilonggo group knownas “Ilaga” that fought toe-to-toe against the Moro fighters—in manner not far less brutalthan the Ampatuan massacre.

‘Rido’ system

Since time immemorial, ev-erybody in Maguindanao andin the neighboring provincesknows how Maguindanaoansseek justice for the death of arelative.

You can describe this sys-tem of justice as: BLOOD FORBLOOD.

Maguindanao natives call it“rido”—a justice whereby aclan whose relative is murdered

will take revenge against theclan of the murderer. Usually,the victims of revenge are theinnocent relatives.

The original sinners feelnow they have the better rightto kill and they would now planto take lives from the other clan.

In many cases, “rido” is anever-ending story. Not eventime can heal the wounds.

In Tagalogs, they call this,“Ubusan ng lahi!” In Visayans,Cebuanos or Ilonggos, they callthis “Baslanay” or “Balusay.”

In other cases, the thoughtof “rido” actually discouragesmany not to start or it will givemeaning to the saying: “Youreap what you sow.”

The bigger the clans are in-volved, the deadlier the “rido”becomes.

A look at any court inMaguindanao would show nocases of murder or homicideinvolving the natives as the ac-cused or the victims.

The families of the victimdo not think of coming to courtwhere justice wheels run for fiveyears to 15 years in full coursebefore the judgment can be ex-ecuted. It becomes a talk of jus-tice delayed justice denied.

And Maguindanaoans arenot used to wait for justice.

This kind of “rido” is onlyabout an ordinary killing.

Fact of massacre beingextremely brutal

The story on “blood forblood” war is expected to befar different in the case of themassacre of at least 57 women,children, lawyers and journal-ists in that bloody carnagewhere Andal Jr. has been posi-tively identified to be the onewho directly gave orders to killanybody in sight.

The degree of shock and thefact that it is unquestionablyrevolting to conscience would

drastically change the color ofthe game of “rido.”

Here, the brutality or sav-agery is historic, the number ofvictims is unequalled, and thenumber of journalists killed inone incident has made the Phil-ippines as the world’s mostdangerous place for journalist,beating Iraq by a far margin.

Everybody agrees, even ifAndal Jr. is cut into pieces it isnot enough as a justice to the57 innocent human beingswhose bodies were mangled,assuming he is guilty.

Arrest of Ampatuanscion

The surrender or arrest ofAndal Jr. to the authorities mayhave alleviated a bit the out-rage from both Muslim andChristian communities in

Mindanao.

Definitely, this does not yetdefine what would be expectedin the few more days as thecountry runs up to the highly-anticipated 2010 elections,particularly the gubernatorialrace in Maguindanao.

However, indications haveshown no simmering down ofhatred.

During the inquest proceed-

ings done by the Departmentof Justice at the airport inGeneral Santos City, the ex-treme outrage nearly brokeout when Toto saw Andal Jr.face to face.

Thanks to the coolerheads and the overwhelmingpresence of law enforcers, apossible bloody revenge wasaverted.

The face of Andal Jr.showed a picture of a manwho has not slept for days;his eye bags were dark anddeep.

The more outrage was fu-eled when he denied having ahand in the goriest-ever mas-sacre and pointed to theMoro Islamic LiberationFront (MILF) as the culprits.

MILF spokesman EidKabalu immediately de-bunked this claim, insistingthat MILF has no interest inlocal politics.

Andal Jr. has been unre-pentant.

Fears of whitewashor manipulation

Given the kind of justicesystem the Philippines hasfor over 100 years, it is no

From page 1

To page 8

NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 20096

‘La Divareigns inLas Vegas’

ByOMAY E.RENTA

ONE of the much-awaitedparts in every fights of Manny“Pacman” Pacquiao is the ren-dition of the Philippine nationalanthem by Filipino artists cho-sen to perform in that particu-lar fight.

Constantly, the artists cho-sen to sing before any fight ofthe “Pambansang Kamao”were at the center of contro-versy.

And almost always, theNational Historical Institute(NHI) comes out charging themwith the violation of Section37 of Republic Act 8491 or theFlag and Heraldic Code of thePhilippines which is stated thatthe rendition of the NationalAnthem, whether played orsung, shall be in accordancewith the musical arrangementand composition of JulianFelipe.

Martin Nievera was chargedby the NHI after he sang thenational anthem on the Manny-Hatton fight last year.

The NHI said that Nieveraerred in his rendition of theNational Anthem, charging himof “desecrating the national an-them.”

However, Martin Nieveradefended himself on the saidcontroversy.

Now, it was LA DIVA thatis the subject of the same is-sue.

On the fight between theWorld’s Pound for Pound KingManny “Pacman” Pacquiaoagainst Miguel Cotto of PuertoRico, GMA-KapusoNetwork’s singing triumviratecollectively known as “LaDiva” sang the “LupangHinirang” in the said Pacquao-Cotto “Firepower” clash.

The crowded MGM GrandGarden Arena was wowed bythe trio’s excellent rendition ofthe national anthem.

La Diva’s version of“Lupang Hinirang” left manywonder about their brilliantvoices, beautiful blending, ex-cellent harmony and ranges.

Another plus factor for thetrio were the dresses they worein the colors of yellow, red andblue which represents the Phil-ippine national flag.

Despite the praises receivedfrom the Filipinos who watchedthe performance of La Diva, theNHI spewed out verbal attacksagainst against them.

According to NHI, theyviolated the law on the correctsinging of the “LupangHinirang.”

They added that the song

has been extended in one and ahalf minutes, contrary to whatthe law prescribes to be 49 to54 seconds.

In an interview with ABS-CBN, Ambet Ocampo, head ofthe National Historical Insti-tute, said the trio failed to fol-low the musical arrangement ofJulian Felipe.

He said that like MartinNievera, La Diva erred in itsrendition of the national an-them for singing it too slow.

“’Yung ating national an-them talagang kinanta para isangmartsa, para sa isang rebo-lusyon. Kaya ‘yon ang laginaming sinasabi sa mga tao,huwag niyong gawing ‘AmaNamin’ ang kanta. Huwagniyong bagalan. Ito’y nationalanthem, nagsasagisag ng isangbansa. It should be given therespect,” Ocampo said.

It was reported that NHI,prior to the last fight, had senta letter and a demo to SolarSports and GMA Artist Cen-ter.

“Second time na ito. Hindipwedeng sabihing hindi nilaalam. Hindi mo alam kungnakalimutan o nanadya,” hesaid.

On the part of La Diva, theirvocal arranger Danny Tanspoke about the controversialand defended the group fromcritics, especially Mr. Ocampo.

According to the statementMr. Tan sent to ABS-CBNNews, he said that the melodyof the national anthem sung bythe trio from the beginning upto the end is intact and withthe proper march tempo.

Mr. Tan said:“The ‘birit’ part in the end

does not violate any law be-cause the melody was still in-tact. The melody of ‘…angmamatay nang da-‘ was sangby Jonalyn Viray (soprano 1)at sinalo ni Maricris Garcia ‘…-hil sayo.’ Maricris is usuallysoprano 2, but in this last part,alto sya. Aicelle sang the so-prano 2 part.

“The arrangement was avery clever way of dealing withthe law without sacrificingmusical integrity, originalityand harmony to fit the inter-pretation of a female pop trio.”

Danny also noted that “LaDiva” performed the PhilippineNational Anthem with so muchfervor and patriotism.”

“As their vocal arranger andmusical director, I must say that‘La Diva’s’ performance madeeach one of us very proud!” hesaid.

As to the answer of Mr.Tan from some technical pointsraised by Mr. Ocampo, he saidthat:

“NHI posted in their offi-cial site samples of how thePhilippine National Anthemwas to be sung.” 

Mr. Tan questions:“How come their instru-

mental version is different fromthe vocal version? They havebeen using their instrumentalversion as the accompanimentof the soloists. ‘Sa dagat at...’part has an extra note on theword ‘sa.’ A grace note or anornamental note is played bythe instruments but not sungby the vocal soloists.

Second, Danny points out,“the solo piano version of Mr.Raul Sunico is not in conso-nance with the instrumentalversion played by the USTWind Orchestra because Mr.Raul Sunico slowed the tempoin the last measure of his ver-sion. Nag ‘retard’ or nag ‘slowdown’ siya.”

Thirdly, Tan said:“Mr. Ambeth Ocampo says

the law states that ‘Lupang

Hinirang’ must be 49 to 54 sec-onds long. Kyla’s version was1 minute and 19 seconds. Mr.Ocampo says La Diva’s ver-sion was slow because umabotdaw ng 1 minute and 30 sec-onds. NHI said Kyla’s versionwas in accordance with the lawand La Diva’s version violatedthe law. How very inconsistentthey are.”

Lastly, Danny Tan lets outsteam by saying that some-body should take a stand anddo something about that law.

“It has to be repealed very,very soon because it encroachesour freedom of expression. Weare not a nation of robots. Weare a very passionate nation es-pecially when it comes to sing-ing,” he ended.

Before the expected contro-versy, it was announced thatthe trio ws luckily chosen byManny “Pacman” Pacquiao tosing the Philippine national an-them on his “Firepower” clashagainst Cotto.

The La Diva group con-sisted of two winners and arunner-up from the GMA-Kapuso’s Pinoy Pop Superstar.Jonalyn Viray and MaricrisGarcia were the grand champi-ons of the first and third sea-sons of the Pinoy Pop Super-star respectively, while Aicelle

Santos was the runner up ofthe second season.

The group was first estab-lished in May 2008 only forSOP Rules’ segment known as“The Three of a Kind” whichwas seen every Sunday.

One of the successful per-formances of the group waswhen they serenaded DavidArchuleta on the program SISlast May of 2009.

Jonalyn Roxas Viray first

appeared as the first winner ofPinoy Pop Superstar.

Born on February 15, 1989in San Mateo, Rizal, Viray isthe lead vocal of the group andknown for her vocal belting andthe ability to sing in whistleregister.

One of the awards receivedby her was the “Overall Cham-pion Female Solo” in Broad-way, Pop and Original at theWorld Championship of Per-forming Arts in Hollywood.

She was a graduate of theChrist the Lord of HarvestAcademy, Inc. in San Mateo,Rizal.

Maricris Garcia is consid-ered as the “Divine Princess”because of her voice distinctlysimilar to the Divine DivaZsazsa Padilla.

Born on September 26, 1987in Caloocan City, she first au-ditioned in Pinoy Pop Super-star Year 1 but failed to becomea finalist.

Two years later, she wonas the 3rd Pinoy Pop Superstarchampion.

The mezzo-soprano of thegroup, Garcia is taking up BSTourism at La ConsolacionCollege in Manila.

Aicelle Santos is a singer-songwriter and a pianist. Shefirst joined the singing contestof ABS-CBN’s season 1 of“Star In A Million” in 2003.The said contest was her firstappearance in television.

Despite future opportuni-ties during that time, she choseto study.

She decided to aim for a solosinging career in 2005 by join-ing the second season ofGMA’s Pinoy Pop Superstar.She got the show’s history af-ter getting an eight-straightwins during the preliminaries.

Aicelle ws the 1st runner-up. She signed a record deal andan exclusive management con-tract under GMA.

Many singers, includingthose from ABS-CBN andGMA-Kapuso Network, au-ditioned to sing the “LupangHinirang” for Pacquiao-Cottofigh, but only the trio passedthe taste of Manny, believingthat these artists will do jus-tice in singing the Philippinenational anthem.

International singers Cha-rise Pempengco and Leah Sa-longa were among the singerswho showed interest to sing“Lupang Hinirang.”

“Pero hindi ko naman silanakausap. Kung nakausap ko,siguro sila. Pero ‘yong ‘LaDiva’ kasi, na-oo-han ko na.Mahirap naman at baka masabiwala akong isang salita,”Pacquiao explained in an inter-view by the ABS

7NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 2009

UNDEFEATED VSUNDISPUTEDTHE recent conquest ofMiguel Cotto of Puerto Ricoby the newly-crowned wel-terweight champion Manny“Pacman” Pacquiao gavethe Filipinos something tobrag about and somethingto be proud of.

Pacquiao not only re-wrote the record books, butalso re-made boxing folklorewhen he ripped the WBOwelterweight title from thebattered and bruised MiguelAngel Cotto with a perfor-mance of stunning speedand offensive ferocity.

Now, there is only oneboxer left blocking his way onthe road to boxing immortal-ity – Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

The two boxing super-stars have finally alignedtheir paths in the boxingrealm. They are either in ornear their prime and are bothfighting in the same weightdivision.

It will truly be a summitmeeting of the sport’s bests.It’s rare that the best twofighters in the world fight inthe same weight class andhave such polar-oppositepersonalities.

In one interview, FloydJr. had this to say: “Theworld is much more in-trigued by the thought ofsomeone fighting me whocan beat me. That is whateveryone wants to see, andthe boxing world is tryingto find that guy. MannyPacquiao’s people havedone a good job of creat-ing an image of him to bethis unbelievable fighterand now the so-called guy

Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs Manny Pacquiao

to beat me. But like all therest, he’s not the one.There is boxing and thenthere is me. The rest arejust falling in line behindme or are trying to get inline to fight me. And thatincludes Manny Pacquiao,too.

“Tell Manny Pacquiaoto be his own man and stopletting everyone, includinghis loudmouth trainer(Freddie Roach), talk forhim. I am my own boss,speak for myself and tell itlike it is. If Manny Pacquiaowants to fight me, all he hasto do is step up to the plateand say it himself.”

Mayweather is hilarious.While Pacquiao humiliatesguys bigger than him withferocity — remember,Pacquiao was a junior light-weight until last year andhas fought only four timesheavier than 130 pounds —Mayweather has avoidedthe top challenges, for themost part, in recent years.That’s why he never foughtCotto or Antonio Margaritoor Paul Williams or ShaneMosley.

While Pacquiao has de-stroyed the bigger Cotto,Oscar De La Hoya, RickyHatton (with a single punchin the second round) andDavid Diaz in his last fourfights, Mayweather pickedon the much smallerMarquez, needed 10 roundsto get rid of the smallerHatton and escaped with asplit decision against De LaHoya.

Floyd Jr. talks about

fighting the best, but has yetto face a prime welterweightwhile Pacquiao takes on thebest guys who are biggerthan him and does it in anexciting fashion.

While all roads lead toPacquiao vs Mayweather,there are some issues thatmust be addressed first be-fore the fight is deliveredto an eagerly anticipatingpublic. This is boxing afterall. With that said, here’s aquick look at potentialsnags that must besmoothed over beforeManny Pacquiao vs FloydMayweather arrives on ourtelevision screens.

The public’s demand tosee this fight is massive, theegos behind the scenes maybe even larger. Negotiationswon’t be easy when you’redealing with Floyd“Money” Mayweather Jr.and his arch-nemesis andformer promoter, Bob Arum.Both sides are demandingthe larger split of the pie,and both have their owncases.

One potential stumblingblock might be that FloydJr. claimed he would neverdo business with Bob Arumagain, and is known to haveavoided Top Rank fighterssuch as Miguel Cotto andAntonio Margarito in thepast. Given his past indis-cretions, Arum might betempted to really hammerFloyd Jr. over the terms ofthe fight, which is some-thing Mayweather won’tlike at all.

A confidante of Manny

Pacquiao said a 55-45 splitin favor of the Filipino sen-sation is fair enough to makethe much-fantasized boutwith Floyd Jr. a reality.

International promoterRex “Wakee” Salud said thatboth camps of Pacquiao andFloyd Jr. have initiallyagreed that their latest Pay-Per-View (PPV) results will

decide who gets the largerchunk of their potential earn-ings.

“Matigas din siMayweather dahil gustoniya siya dapat angmalaking share. Si Mannynaman hindi din papayag.Pero yung basehan na PPVng last fight nila, lamang nasi Manny,” said Salud.

Well-known boxing per-sonalities, however, are in-sistent that a 50-50 splitwould be fair enough forboth celebrity fighters asthere would definitely be somuch money on the table tomake so much fuss aboutsmall percentages.

“It could hit 3 millionpay-per-view buys. And iftwo fighters can do it, it’sMayweather and Pacquiao,”penned Oscar De La Hoyain his Ring Magazine onlineblog.

It really is the fight theworld wants to see.

Meanwhile, the UnitedStates Sports Academy’sAthlete of the Year ballot-ing is on.

The Athlete of the Year

ballot is the culmination ofthe Academy’s yearlongprogram which recognizesthe accomplishments of 12male and 12 female in sportsaround the globe. The can-didates for the Athlete of theYear is selected by an inter-national voting committeecomposed of members ofthe media, sports organiza-tions and governing bodies.The athlete with the mostvotes regardless of genderwill be the Overall Athleteof the Year.

Last year’s winners were2008 Olympic stars MichaelPhelps and Nastia Liukin.

Voters are asked to selecttheir top three candidatesfor the award in descendingorder. First choice is worthfive points, second place isthree points and third placeis one point.

The men’s ballot con-sists of, in alphabetical or-der: Craig Alexander,triathlon, Australia; UsainBolt, track and field, Ja-maica; Drew Brees, football,United States; Kobe Bryant,basketball, United States;

Angel Cabrera, golf, Argen-tina; Roger Federer, tennis,Switzerland; SantonioHolmes, football, UnitedStates; LeBron James, bas-ketball, United States;Jimmie Johnson, auto rac-ing, United States; MannyPacquiao, boxing, Philip-pines; Albert Pujols, base-ball, Dominican Republic;and Tiger Woods, golf,United States.

The women’s ballot con-sists of: Yelena Isinbaeva,track and field, Russia;Carmelita Jeter, track andfield, United States;Courtney Kupets, gymnas-tics, United States; LinetMasai, track and field,Kenya; Lorena Ochoa, golf,Mexico; Courtney Paris,basketball, United States;Sanya Richards, track andfield, United States; JiyaiShin, golf, South Korea;Diana Taurasi, basketball,United States; LindseyVonn, skiing, United States;Chrissie Wellington,triathlon, United Kingdom;and Serena Williams, tennis,United States.

Pound-4-Pound kingManny Pacquiao raises hisWBO welterweight beltafter receiving the Order ofSikatuna from PresidentGloria Macapagal-Arroyo.The Order of Sikatuna isthe highest awardconferred upon individualswho have renderedexceptional andmeritorious services to thecountry in terms offostering and developingrelations between thePhilippines and othercountries.

General Santos City, he lostto incumbent DarleneAntonino-Custodio.

Let us see if he will winin 2010.

But if I were Pacquiao, Iprefer not to enter politics.

He has billions of dollars torelax or enjoy life.

Long live, MannyPacquiao!

***As usual, the crime rate

of PNP on Pacquiao-Cottofight was zero. It may becriminals also watched the

From page 5

Manny Pacquiao is now a History,

will he get into politics?fight. Likewise, the police-men were focused on thetelevision.

It was a spectacular. Youcan really be amazed by theexcitement and every bit ofaction.

We expect it again in thenext fight…

ByRONALD B.

HERICO

NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 20098

SO, SO, SOGOOOODWesley So beats Ivanchuk, advances to 3rd round

The game where So de-feated higher-ratedIvanchuk, V Ivanchuk onwhite, W So on black, inthe first game of their Sec-ond Round match for theWorld Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, onNov. 24, 2009, giving theresult where So scored 2and Ivanchuk 1, is writtenas follows:

1. e4 e6; 2. d4 d5; 3.Nc3 Bb4; 4. exd5 exd5; 5.Bd3 Nf6; 6. Nge2 O-O; 7.O-O Bg4; 8. f3 Bh5; 9. Nf4Bg6; 10. Nxg6 hxg6; 11.Bg5 c6; 12. f4 Qb6; 13.Na4 Qxd4+; 14. Kh1 Ne4;15. c3 Nf2+; 16. Rxf2Qxf2; 17. cxb4 f6; 18. Qg4fxg5; 19. Qe6+ Kh8; 20.Nc5 Qxb2; 21. Qh3+ Kg8;22. Qe6+ Kh8; 23. Rf1 Qf6;24. Qh3+ Kg8; 25. g3 Re8;26. Nxb7 gxf4; 27. Rxf4Re1+; 28. Kg2 Qe6; 29.Qxe6+ Rxe6; 30. Nc5Re7; 31. b5 Nd7; 32. Nxd7Rxd7; 33. bxc6 Rd6; 34.Bb5 Re8; 35. Rd4 Kf7; 36.Rf4+ Ke6; 37. Rg4 Ke5;38. Kf3 Rf6+; 39. Ke3 0-1(Ivanchuk resigned)

FILIPINO WonderKid Wesley Soscored the biggestupset in the sec-

ond round of the 2009 WorldChess Cup, beating formerworld championship con-tender GM Vassily Ivanchukof Ukraine to advance to thethird round of the biggestmind contest at the Khanty-Mansiysk Festival of Arts inKhanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

The 16-year-old senior ofSt. Francis of Assisi inBacoor, Cavite forcedIvanchuk to resign in theirfirst game in Round 2 of thisbiggest chess event.

With this win, the great-est Filipino chess playerwho is now the World’s TopPlayer in Under 16-years-old group needed only adraw to advance to the nextround, where only 32 chessplayers remained to con-tinue the fight.

He forced Ivanchuk to adraw in their second gameto formally seal the right toadvance to the third roundof the competition which isan integral part of theWorld Chess Champion-ship cycle.

And So never faltered.With an ELO of 2640, he

defeated Ivanchuk who hasan ELO of 2739.

If this was the result ofthe game, it must be thatWesley performed his chessin the level above 2800 ELO.

In the first round, Wesleydefeated Grandmaster GadirGuseinov of Azerbaijan whilethe only other Filipino en-tries, GM Rogelio Antonio Jr.and GM Darwin Laylo, wereeliminated.

The win over Guseinovmoved So to the top groupof 64 players remaining afterthe first round.

What was more wonder-ful, So was playing in theusually-disadvantageousblack when he defeatedIvanchuk in a complicatedFrench game.

When So now holdingthe white pieces and need-ing only a draw to nail theright to advance to the top-32 field, Wesley chose toplay the Exchange Variationagainst the Slav Defense ofIvanchuk.

Wesley then played cau-tiously, making it so difficultfor Ivanchuk to find a way to

complicate things. In the 46th

move, the game turned intoa balanced Queen ending.

The next road for Wesleyis much uphill.

He is set to face the WorldChess Champion in 2007,GM Gata Kamsky of theUnited States who has ELO2695.

Kamsky, once a childprodigy like Wesley, barely

missed the chance last Feb-ruary to challenge reigningworld chess championViswanathan Anand.Kamsky lost to VeselinTopalov of Bulgaria to set upa world championship matchagainst Anand.

To Filipinos, nothing isimpossible. Pray for him.

Kamsky eliminatedChina’s GM Zhou Weiqi,who, in turn, eliminated GMEmil Sutovsky of Israel 3.5-1.5 in their own mini-match.GM Sutovsky succumb inthe tiebreak games 2.5-0.5against the Chinese grand-master.

So, who rose to promi-nence by becoming theworld’s seventh youngestplayer to earn a GM title inDecember 2007, played flaw-lessly against the highly-rated Ivanchuk despite han-dling the black side of theboard.

The high school studentof St. Francis of Assisi wona pawn with 13. Qxd4+ andthen forced the Ukrainianchampion to give up a rookand a bishop for knight andbishop.

On the 28th move, Sowisely steered the game intohis advantage by forcing anexchange of the queens andwent into the endgame withtwo rooks, a knight and fivepawns against Ivanchuk’srook, knight, bishop and fourpawns.

So qualified for the sec-ond round by defeating

Filipino chess wizard GM Wesley So barges into the 3rd round of the 2009 WorldChess Cup, beating former world championship contender GM Vassily Ivanchuk ofUkraine at the Khanty-Mansiysk Festival of Arts in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

GM Gadir Guseinov (ELO2625) of Azerbaijan in theirfirst round match. The twosplit their two regulargames and the match wentto a rapid play-off where Soeventually scored a brilliant3-0 victory.

The two other Filipinoparticipants of the tourna-ment were not as lucky, los-ing their first round assign-ments to their higher-ratedopponents.

GM Antonio (ELO 2574)was beaten by GM Kamsky(ELO 2695) of the US and lost0.5-1.5.

Antonio put up a spiritedfight in their second gamewhere he was pressing muchof the action but Kamskymanaged to hold the gamefor a draw.

GM Laylo (ELO 2552) lostto GM David Navara (ELO2707) of Czechoslovakia butnot after extending thematch into the rapid play-off.

Laylo barely missed vic-tory and Navara won, 3-1, af-ter the two split their tworegular games in the mini-match where the Filipino wonthe second game with a fineeffort of attacking play.

Laylo was on his way towin the second game of therapid play-off after the twoplayers drew the first game.

Unfortunately, he letNavara escape with a draw.

Affected with such resultor not, Laylo went on to losethe next two games to handhis opponent the victory.

secret that it affords many op-portunities for the accused toplay around with.

In the case of Andal Jr., evenif he is guilty, which is likely, itis possible that he would makeup a play to call in some of hismen to own up the massacre inexchange for money in order tofree him from jail.

In the case of the lateMayor Honorato Galvez of SanIldefonso, Bulacan, his body-guards owned up the crimes andwere the ones who were keptin jail while the mayor wasfreed, in addition to the accountof the police crime laboratorythat the bullets that killed thevictims did not fit the gun ofGalvez.

What happened to Galvezis not far to happen in the caseof Andal Jr.

It has always been a prac-tice of lawyers-operators tomake a play conspiring withthe fiscals and the judge withthe purpose of getting a courtorder to lessen liability or ac-quit the accused.

And if there is apparent

whitewash, the “blood forblood” backlash is inevitable.

With the vivid details of re-ports, photos and footages sofar that have been bombardedon the public, the witnessesmentioned by Father JunMercado as having positivelyidentified the Ampatuan son asthe leader of the band, and thefact that the provincial govern-ment backhoe was there,coupled with the coming of awitness who was among thoseordered to rape and brutally kill,and the fact that there havebeen no other persons inter-ested in killing the wife and sis-ters of Toto, his lady lawyersand the 27 journalists, it can-not be explained to the publichow Andal Jr. can be declaredinnocent-and why the gunmenwere not arrested.

Conclusions

Given these considerations,anybody can just sigh to ask:(a) Will the present justice sys-tem work? and (b) Will “blood-for-blood” justice erupt?

Additionally, the presentjustice system cannot work be-cause no fiscal and judge ofMaguindanao would ever findprobable cause and sentence theAmpatuans as guilty of theworld’s worst massacre of jour-nalists.

Recommendation

To avoid the repeat of thegoriest-ever massacre, the onlyoption is to change the systemof justice.

It is proposed that the coun-try now adopts Hukuman ngMamamayan, or the Filipino-designed Jury System. This isto ensure that laws on crimesare implemented to precludethe possibility of breeding andthe molding again of criminalsas worst as the Ampatuan mas-sacre killers, who were said tohave used to killing ordinaryMaguindanao people for tenyears that they developed thehabit of fearless mass killing.

The Ampatuans are ex-amples of warlords who havebeen treated as “babies” by the

administration of GloriaMacapagal Arroyo for deliver-ing the needed votes whereFernando Poe Jr. got zero andwhere her senatorial candidateswere 12-0 winners.

The Hukuman ngMamamayan is composed oftwo bodies: the Grand Jury andthe Trial Jury.

The Grand Jury shall becomposed of ordinary folkswhose names and faces shallbe hidden and they will be cho-sen by raffle from the voters’list to exercise the power todecide who shall be arrested,brought to court for trial, thepower to jail bought or threat-ened witnesses who refuse totestify until they agree to talk,the power to jail arrogant orthreatened policemen and otherlaw enforcers until they agreeto work as detectives.

The Trial Jury shall be com-posed of ordinary folks whosenames and faces shall be hid-den and chosen in the samemanner. It will decide as towhich claims are true and whichare false.

‘BLOOD FOR BLOOD’ JUSTICEFrom page 5