WIVES had been promoted from their jobs. The children have graduated from school and are now pursuing respective career paths. Ten years is indeed a long enough time for anyone to brush off the remnants of a horrible past and attempt to move on and live life as normally as possible.
In retrospect, the surviving family members of the Maguindanao Massacre may have moved on but when they start talking of that particular Monday afternoon, November 23, 2009, the details are so clear, it’s as if they are recalling a gruesome event that happened just yesterday.
Noemi Estrella Parcon was a math teacher in Koronadal National Comprehensive High School when the news came to her. Her husband, Joel Parcon, Prontiera News publisher, may be among the killed journalists who convoyed with Toto Mangudadatu’s wife and relatives to file for his candidacy as governor for the province of Mangudadatu.
“Hindi mo maintindihan kung anong nararamdaman mo eh. Tinawagan ko ‘yung bunso namin kasi sa UM Davao City nag-aaral. We decided to go sa site mismo. Pero hindi namin nakita kaagad. We were advised to wait at funeral parlors na lang sa Koronadal,” Parcon recalled.
Desperately trying to find out if Joel was really among the dead journalists, their youngest child kept calling his phone only to be answered by a male stranger, “Patay na papa mo,” before hanging up and the Parcons never again reached the number.
It was not until after two days that the remains of her husband were retrieved. They were watching the live TV news of the bodies being dug up when they recognized Joel’s clothes and knew right away it was him.
He was the second to the last person to be retrieved from the mound where the suspects buried all the journalists and the others part of the convoy.
The Maguindanao Massacre is considered to be one of the most gruesome media-related murders in the history of the Philippines.
Thirty-two of the 58 people killed in the site were journalists from different areas in Southern Mindanao. And yet 10 years, 101 arrested suspects, 357 witnesses, and 165 volumes of records of proceedings after, verdict has yet to be given and the families still wait for the justice they deserve.
Parcon is now the Department of Education Division Office Math Supervisor in DepEd Koronadal, and the justice for her late husband is still nowhere.
“Itong klase ng batas na meron tayo, walang kwenta! Sa 58 na pinatay, 10 years na, wala pa din. Inuuna ang pera!” a very frustrated and angry Ramona “Monet” Salaysay told SunStar Davao.
Monet is the wife of Napoleon Salaysay, publisher of Clearview Gazette. He worked as the manager of an FM Radio station in Cotabato for six years before deciding to establish his own newspaper company.
According to Monet, she was not informed by her husband that he would join Toto Mangudadatu’s convoy to cover the filing of Certificate of Candidacy (COC).
He was in Buluan the weekend before and was actually sick. She believed that the decision of her husband to join the convoy the following Monday is a spur-of-the-moment decision, but Monet recalled how her husband is good friends with Toto Mangudadatu.
Same is the case with Noemi’s husband. She only learned of his presence in the convoy after the massacre had already taken place. Joel, too, was good friends with Toto Mangudadatu.
“I realized mahirap talagang makipag-ano sa mga politicians. Kasi minsan nagagamit ‘yung mga media natin for that purpose. They were even promised a huge amount after the filing of COC. Siguro alam na nilang ‘di makakabalik kasi in the first place alam na nating may threat ang Ampatuan sa mga Mangudadatu na ‘pag ituloy ang pag-file ng candidacy doon, talagang may mangyayari,” Parcon shared.
The first state witness for the case, former Sultan sa Barongis vice mayor Sukarno Badal, disclosed in 2013 that the Ampatuans had planned different attacks on the convoy should the COC be filed in Cotabato City, Shariff Aguak, or in Manila.
Finally deciding to file the COC at Shariff Aguak, the convoy was gunned down at a checkpoint somewhere in Salaman, Ampatuan town. The first gunshot heard was at around 11 a.m. of November 23.
“Ako mismo nag-retrieve sa bangkay ng asawa ko. Nandoon ako ‘nung naghukay sila. Naging manhid ako. Nakita ko gaano ka hindi makatao ang ginawa nila. May nakita pa akong katawan ng tao doon, nadaganan na ng yuping sasakyan. Meron pa putol na paa ng babae,” Salaysay recalled how she first-handedly witnessed how terrible the mass burial of the dead were while their cars were buried along with the corpses.
When her husband was retrieved, she remembered six gunshot wounds in his entire body — his right thigh totally damaged.
“Ibang klase din talaga ako. With the help of God, binigyan Niya ako ng ganoong courage. Di ko naramdaman ang sakit. Di ko maintidihan ang nararamdaman ko that time. Di ako naiyak. Noong huli na lang,” Salaysay recalled.
She said she saw the backhoe. In every media picture of the actual site 10 years ago, the iconic backhoe was there. It was used to dig the earth up and bury 58 individuals together with their cars. Salaysay said she clearly remembers how the backhoe has a print that says it was a provincial government property, under Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr.
“All evidences, witnesses point to the Ampatuans as the primary suspects. Bakit hindi pa mabigay-bigay ang hustisya? Napaka-disgusting isipin na umabot ng 10 years tapos 58 na tao pinatay,” she said. By this point, her voice cracked, on the edge of crying before she gathered herself again and told SunStar Davao of the death threats she herself received in the past.
But with more conviction now she said she will continue fighting for justice and would never cave in and be afraid of the death threats. She said the victims deserve the justice and she, together with the other family members of the victims, will continue to demand for it. She said she doesn’t want to die before justice is finally handed out to them.
In 2015, arrested Andal Ampatuan, Sr. was reported dead because of liver failure but neither Parcon nor Salaysay was convinced that he was actually already dead.
“Dili to enough kay dapat nagtagal pa siya sa kulungan. Pero I doubt kung talagang patay na. Hindi natin alam. Hindi naman nakita ang bankay. Hindi pinakita sa media. Namatay daw pero ang gusto namin noon, sana di pa siya namatay. Sana medyo nagtagal pa siya sa kulungan para at least buhay siya na narranasan ang hirap sa kulungan,” Parcon said.
Fourteen families of the massacre victims were under Atty. Harry Roque. Parcon and Salaysay both said they are very happy of the legal services of Roque. Every year they are invited to Malacañang Palace for free to meet and attend press conferences.
On the first week of November this year, however, Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes appealed for a 30-day extension to rule the case. So instead of the verdict being given before the 10th anniversary of the Maguindanao Massacre, the families may have to wait for at least a month more.