Encouraged by the relatively quick-paced handling of the case, an international media watchdog urged Philippine authorities Wednesday to ensure the conviction of the masterminds of the Maguindanao massacre on Nov. 23, last year.
But New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said the "breakthrough" Tuesday, where the judge handling the case set a September 1 trial date, will still be the start of a long process for justice for victims and their families.
"It is encouraging to see the trial for the Maguindanao massacre move ahead quickly. Because of the scope of the killings and the complexity of the case authorities must work hard to maintain the momentum," Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia program coordinator, who attended the pre-trial hearing, said in an article on the CPJ website.
"President Aquino's government must make sure that all sides stay focused on a fast but fair trial, and strive to bring the people who plotted these killings — not just the triggermen — to justice," he added.
Dietz said the Sept. 1 trial date for several defendants in the Maguindanao massacre highlights a "positive development in what has been a very ugly story." (See: 'Litmus test' begins in Maguindanao prosecution)
He said Quezon City Regional Trial Court Justice Jocelyn Solis-Reyes appeared determined to move the case forward and, for now, seemed able to keep the large legal teams in line.
Likewise, he said that President Benigno Aquino III and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima had made it clear they grasp the importance of building a dynamic legal system to match their aspirations for national growth.
Still, the CPJ noted that in 66 journalist murders since 1992, Philippine prosecutors have won only five convictions, with most of those convicted mere hitmen or "guns for hire who didn’t know their victims beyond recognizing their faces, skilled at carrying off drive-by killings, often while mounted on motorcycles."
"None of the plotters – the powerful people with the money to pay someone to do their dirty work – has been brought to justice. The most glaring example is the March 2005 murder of Marlene Garcia-Esperat, in which two prominent public officials accused of masterminding the crime have remained free. Only the gunmen have been tried and convicted in the Garcia-Esperat killing, which also occurred in Mindanao," Dietz noted.
On the other hand, CPJ’s Impunity Index, an annual assessment that calculates unsolved journalist murders as a percentage of each country’s population, ranks the Philippines as the third worst country in the world in bringing the killers of journalists to justice.
It said only Iraq and Somalia, two war-torn nations, are worse.
"The problem in the Philippines is not unique to journalist killings; the country’s judicial system has an abysmal overall conviction rate in murder cases. Detlev Mehlis, who heads the European Union’s Philippine Justice Support Program, puts the Philippines murder conviction rate at 10 percent," the CPJ said. — RSJ/LBG, GMANews.TV
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