On November 23, 57 people were massacred in the Filipino Magnindanao province by the ruling Ampatuan clan that governs it. Many of those killed were journalists. On November 27, the primary suspect in the massacre, Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr, was arrested.
A November 29 Digitaljournal.com article said: "The victims were in a convoy on their way to file the candidacy of Datu Unsay Vice-Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu who is running for governor of Maguindanao, a position currently held by a relative of the suspect.
"More than 20 journalists were with the convoy when they were ambushed, killed and buried in a hastily excavated burial ground. Witnesses said that women victims were raped first before they were shot and killed.
"The Ampatuan and the Mangudadadu clans have a long standing political feud for the control of Maguindanao, a province in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. On Friday Ampatuan Jr was indicted of ordering his private militia of more than 100 gunmen to open fire on the group, which included relatives of rival Muslim politician, Esmael Mangudadatu, some journalists and passing motorists who had no known quarrel with the gunmen."
The article below is by Sonny Melencio, the chairperson of the Party of the Labouring Masses (Partido Lakas ng Masa, PLM). It is reprinted from Links, international journal of socialist renewal, www.links.org.au.
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The PLM condemns in the strongest possible terms the massacre in Maguindanao. We assert that this is not only a problem confined to Mindanao, but is a symptom of a festering and rotten political system. We predict that this violence will be the feature of the coming elections, as the political elite struggle with increasing desperation and ferocity for a share of the ever-dwindling national wealth and power.
The Philippine elections are a veritable killing fields and the killings have begun!
The protection provided to the leaders of the Ampatuan clan by the regime of Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) has granted them political immunity. They will use it to act with impunity.
However, the political impunity of the families and clans that control the political establishment is a permanent feature of politics in this country. It's the mark of trapo (traditional politician) politics.
And lest we forget, it was the Ampatuan clan that guaranteed GMA's theft of the presidency.
The massacre happened because the rival Mangudadatu political clan was contesting the seat of power of the Ampatuans and were on their way to file their candidacy.
In these clan wars, it's the poor who are always the victims as they sacrifice themselves at the altar of trapo politics and for the interest of rotten trapo politicians.
The Maguindanao massacre exposes the sham of the political system and the electoral process in this country.
The PLM says the people must act and put an end to this rotten system of trapo politics and the rule of the trapo politicians. Only then can we make a breach in this rotting carcass of the trapo political establishment and bring about fundamental changes in the political system.
We need system change! We need to end elite rule and establish a government of the masses. Only then can we be assured that the violence brought about by trapo political system will be removed.