Kaban ni D_BystandeR: DUGUONG PANGHITABO SA MAGUINDANAO, GIKALIMTAN UG GISURAMBAO???

Six years have passed since the horrible massacre of 58 people including 32 media practitioners took place in Maguindanao but, sad to say, until now nobody is convicted despite the glaring facts that the masterminds were positively identified by a hundred witnesses and this, despite the promise of BS Aquino to give justice to the massacre victims before his term ends in June 30, 2016. But Aquino could not have been helpless to give justice to those massacre victims if we are to consider that he even succeeded in ousting CJ Corona from the SC which is viewed by many observers before as quite a difficult task to accomplish. Aquino even succeeded in toppling downthe once considered politically invincible VP Binay from his consistent top spot in different poll surveys for the 2016 presidential race until the powerful "demolition job" orchestrated by BS Aquino against  Binay forcefully changed everything using his unlimited power and influence over BRSC to conduct non-stop and monotonous senate inquiries which lasted for more than a year wasting the taxpayers money when the series of senate inquiries could have been utilized to craft meaningful legislative agenda to solve the unemployment problem of the country resulting in 6,000 a day of people leaving the country to work as OFWs  abroad in search of decent jobs which the Aquino government failed to provide. And what is definitely shameful in the manner he toppled Binay's popularity was by using Aquino's power to influence the government agencies concerned like AMLC, the Ombudsman, etc., just to see to it that Binay will no longer look threatening to the candidacy of his political protege, Mar Roxas. And Aquino is doing those things to prove that he has the power and influence to get what he wants. But when it comes to the most important thing about giving justice to the people who were crying for his help, that is where he sadly failed. Take for instance the case of the unsolved killings of the lumads in Mindanao where from 2010 up to a month ago as reported by the Inquirer, 58 of their community leaders were already killed allegedly by paramilitary units coddled by the military. And the lumads have already gone to Manila even at the height of the APEC convention just to dramatize their urgent demand for justice for the deaths of their own people asking for help from Aquino. And if he cannot give justice to the lumads, how much more to the 58 Maguindanao massacre victims whose killings in broad daylight was masterminded by a very rich and influential family of the Ampatuans. And proof of this is the fact that Sajid, the youngest son of Andal Ampatuan Sr., who died a few months ago during the trial of their case, was able to post bail of P11.6M despite the fact that it is a heinous crime and hence non-bailable. And Sajid is now even reported to have already filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) to run for mayor in his town.

Footnote: This comment came out in connection with a news item in PDI, entitled, "Why still no justice for victims of the Maguindanao massacre?" It came out on Nov. 25, 2015.