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It was the day the government looked like it disappeared. In the blame game of the government, it is the public who is compromised. Read more at the editorial.
KRISIS AN OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE UP JOURNALISM CLUB
Thursday
21 November 2013 A.Y. 2013-2014. Issue 3 Plaridel Hall, UP Diliman, 1101 Quezon City upjournalismclub.org
UP students mobilize Yolanda relief ops BY ERWIN COLCOL & YVETTE MORALES
KING ON HOT SEAT. Various groups tag President Benigno Simeon Aquino III as the ‘Impunity King’ in a press conference Tuesday at the College of Mass Communication Press Freedom Hall. Toby Roca
Maguindanao remains Ampatuan clan’s political stronghold
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BY SHARA CAYETANO, NICOLE CORTEZ & BEATRICE MALVEDA
t all started in a nondescript, humble town called Ampatuan. In the midst of pre-election frenzy, 58 men and women were abducted and brutally murdered as they made their way to witness Esmael Mangudadatu file his certificate of candidacy. That day, 58 people lost their lives, but more than a hundred families had lost their loved ones. All bullets and bloodshed hence, for a document that threatened one of the most influential political clan’s name. What the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) regarded as the “single dead-
liest event for journalists in history” is also one of the most brutal cases of election violence in the Philippines perpetrated by members of a political dynasty. Mangudadatu’s thenrival was Andal Ampatuan Jr., son of the incumbent governor. The Ampatuan patriarch, unable to run for another term, was hoping that his son would take his position and keep their clan in power. He had been governor for more than 10 years, and had been in politics for decades. Today, both father and son are being tried for the massacre, but the Ampatuan political clan remains a
strong force in Maguindanao. According to the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism documentary Angkan, 80 Ampatuans were running for government positions in 2013. Aside from the Ampatuans, the next largest political clans are the Midtimbangs, the Sangkis, the Sinsuats, and the Mangudadatus, each with around 20 candidates in the May 2013 elections. The Midtimbangs and the Sangkis are related to the Ampatuans through marriage. About 200 candidates in the May 2013 elections came from political clans. These clans Jump to back page
Iskolars ng Bayan once again answered the call to “serve the people.” In response to the need for assistance of the victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), various groups in the university held relief drives to help the survivors of Yolanda. As of November 15, more than 10,000 individual relief packs were deployed by the Isko Operations (IskoOps). IskoOps is the “relief arm” of the University Student Council (USC). The packs were distributed to different towns and provinces affected by Super Typhoon Yolanda, including Tacloban, Bantayan Island, Iloilo and Samar, said Dan Guzman, head of IskoOps. Instead of the usual family packs, IskoOps packed the relief goods for individuals, separating goods for male, female and kids. A pack includes a liter of water, easy-to-open canned goods, viand, biscuits and clothes. Other goods such as candles, matches and soaps, among others, are sent by bulk, he added. The group also accounted Php 206,719.85 monetary donations as of Friday. Aside from IskoOps, Tulong Kabataan is another Jump to back page
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013
KRISIS
EDITORIAL
Who loses the blame game?
A
lmost two weeks after Super Typhoon Yolanda hit and unfortunately devastated Eastern Visayas and some parts of Luzon and Mindanao, and the country was bombarded with news of the government pointing blank fingers and getting away with everything but accountability– much like the case of the 2009 Maguindanao Massacre. Tacloban City, which was supposedly the center of the area’s economic activity, was seemingly turned into a circus of non-stop relief operations, road deblocking, and the victims’ cries for help and support from the government. As of Wednesday, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said Typhoon Yolanda’s death toll reached 4,000 while 1,602 were reportedly missing. In time, these numbers will mean nothing but statistics. People will soon overlook the fact that each figure corresponds to a life. Because just like the case of the man-made calamity, the 58 individuals including 32 journalists and media workers who were killed in Ampatuan town now seemed to be forgotten, despite the call of media institutions to “never forget.” No one has been convicted since the hearing began on Jan. 5, 2010. Despite the incessant call against impunity, justice has yet to be attained as the government seemed to leave its responsibility and fly aboard while Yolanda’s victims pushed their luck to ride Air Force’s C-130 to go to Manila. Both were running away – one from responsibility, the other from poverty. In the midst of these calamities’ aftermath, another tragedy seemed to loom in the country. It was the day
KRISIS AN OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE UP JOURNALISM CLUB
the government looked like it disappeared. It was the day when the government pointed a finger and put the blame to others. With Tacloban City looking like a vast landfill, the last thing people wanted to hear were the public officials blaming one another. Instead, the government should have grabbed the opportunity to unify the Filipino people. It lost chance of calling on the people to be as one in the moment of national grieving. With local and national government fighting over who to blame and who should have spearheaded the relief efforts, the victims were lying on filthy hospital beds suffering from diseases that were easy to cure in normal circumstances. With President Benigno Simeon Aquino III saying that the localities failed to prepare, he overlooked that his government also failed to immediately set-up command centers and reached the people who lost almost everything after being the storm surges. Relief operations were concentrated in bigger cities and municipalities while villages with small populations have been receiving minimal amount of relief packs. PNoy lost the chance to prove that this government was compassionate and sensitive enough and not just moving mechanically in accordance with party politics and the do’s and don’ts for ratings purposes. As the families of the massacre’s victims called for justice and the Yolanda victims cried for help, the government should be the cohesive force and the root of action. Failure to make people accountable for their crimes and to lift victims of disasters is failure of democracy in hindsight.
A.Y. 2013-2014, ISSUE 3
Maguindanao
indanao have learned to lower their standards; they don’t expect new infrastructures or programs. Instead, they elect a person who will not harm them, their family and their source of income. Authority has remained, but there is no responsibility to go along with it. It is as if Maguindanao itself is being massacred.The irony is Maguindanao hasn’t grown much through the years but the strong political clans keep growing stronger. The key to quickly changing the culture of impunity and dirty governance in Maguindanao is daunting. It demands the guilty to proclaim their guilt. It demands the government and the president to have a strong political will to punish those who must be punished. Similarly, we must not forget what Maguindanao has suffered through and we must wait for it to heal and grow once more, no matter how long. And as we search for justice for the 58 slain, we must also search for the improvement of governance in Maguindanao.
UP students
operation has amassed Php 103,759 from monetary donations. These will be spent for goods which will also be added to the relief packs. On the other hand, Melgarejo pointed out that Tulong Kabataan’s mission does not end with the relief drive alone. “Going beyond” the operation is their real purpose, she said. Students from UP Visayas Tacloban College and UP Manila School of Health Sciences in Palo, Leyte are also given the chance to cross-register in other UP constituent units, she said. Students who are from provinces affected by Yolanda may apply for Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP) reassignment to bracket E2 until Nov. 22 according to the USC.
From front page are so large and prominent in Maguindanao such that the battle for power doesn’t just occur between clans, it occurs within the clan itself. Members of a clan run for government positions against each other - such that, either way, that clan would remain in power. As Angkan puts it, it is only in Maguindanao where there are many candidates, but very few choices. Despite the enthusiasm over public service, progress in Maguindanao seems to be slow - much like the trials for the infamous massacre that occurred four years ago. On average, citizens of Maguindanao only earn 2,000 pesos a month. Municipal halls are empty. The province’s capitol has moved six times in four decades. And in the National Statistics Office’s Good Governance Index (GGI), which ranks provinces based on governance, Maguindanao placed last. The people of Magu-
From front page relief drive spearheaded by the Office of the Student Regent and Kabataan Partylist. The operation, whose inception dates back to 2006, aims to promote solidarity among Iskolars ng Bayan through volunteerism and selfless dedication of oneself for others. Student Regent Krista Melgarejo said that aside from inviting student volunteers, Tulong Kabataan also intents to educate them on the government and the society’s role in responding to disasters. “We let the volunteers realize that the government should be the one responsible in disasters, not students like us,” she said. Absie Eligio, a Tulong Kabataan volunteer, said the
EDITOR IN CHIEF TOBY ROCA | EDITORS DEXTER CABALZA CLAUDINE COMPLATIVO MARIEJO RAMOS FEONA IMPERIAL | WRITERS SHARA CAYETANO ERWIN COLCOL NICOLE CORTEZ BEATRICE MALVEDA YVETTE MORALES Released periodically throughout the year, “Krisis” presents UPJC’s take on the Philippine situation via news articles, news analyses, editorials and feature articles on current political issues. It may contain the organization’s statement on pertinent media and political issues hounding the country.