A MEMBER of the House minority bloc on Wednesday asked Congress to declare November 23 a day to remember all victims of summary killings”•including the victims of the Maguindanao massacre in 2009.
In filing House Bill 4502, an act declaring November 23 “A National Day of Commemoration for all Victims of Extralegal Killings,” Kabayan party-list Rep. Harry Roque also pressed for justice for the 58 victims of the Maguindanao massacre.
Roque filed his bill even as the Justice department said justice will be served to the families of the victims of the Maguindanao massacre on Nov. 23, 2009, “in the next few years.”
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said his team of prosecutors was doing its best to secure the conviction of Andal “Datu Unsay” Ampatuan Jr. and brother Zaldy Ampatuan, the two main accused in the case.
“We will do all that we can to make the wheels of justice turn faster not only in this case but in other cases,” Aguirre said in a statement.
He made his statement even as an independent non-government organization on Wednesday held a National Day of Prayer in Baclaran Church for the victims of the Ampatuan massacre.
“Today, on the seventh anniversary of the Ampatuan Massacre, we hold a National Day of Prayer and Solidarity for the Victims of Extra-judicial Killings and Their Families at the Shrine of the Mother of Perpetual Help, Redemptorist Church, Baclaran, in Manila,” said NAKPhilippines.
This is our way of acknowledging the pain and anguish of the families of the thousands of victims of Duterte’s war on drugs and to press for our continuing demand for accountability and justice.
Roque said justice was still to be served for the 58 people, 32 of them journalists and media workers, who were killed by then Datu Unsay town Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. and his henchmen in Sept. 28, 2009.
“We believe Congress needs to pass a law that will set aside a day to commemorate the victims of extralegal killings, including the victims of the Ampatuan massacre, to stress [the government’s] resolve to fight impunity and to honor the memory of those who perished by rejecting impunity as a state policy,” Roque, a counsel for the victims’ families, said.
“All we need is one conviction to send them all to Muntinlupa.”
