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STATEMENT: Cayetano: Maguindanao massacre victims deserve swift justice

Expresses confidence in govt’s commitment to end culture of impunity

“To delay prosecution is to deny justice for the Filipino people.”

Seven years ago today, the entire country was shaken by the gruesome murder of 58 people, including 32 media workers, in Maguindanao. It saddens me to think that seven years had passed, but justice remains elusive for the victims and their families, and their call for the resolution of the case had not been heard.

Our previous leaders’ failure to resolve this case has perpetuated a culture of acceptance, or at least a misguided tolerance of a criminal justice system that moves at a glacial pace. The wheels of justice were moving, but they have turned slow.

Fortunately, with the dawn of a new leadership, real changes are bound to happen. I trust that while the past administration had failed in bringing justice to the tragic mass killing of journalists in Maguindanao, the Duterte government is set to go after those who violated our people's freedom and continue to evade the law, as well as to end the culture of impunity in the country.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier signed an Administrative Order (AO) creating the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, commissioned to investigate unsolved cases of media killings in the country. Moreover, to uphold transparency and accountability in government, the President also signed Executive Order (EO) No. 2, implementing the freedom of information (FOI) in the executive branch.

Filipino families deserve this kind of swift action from their government. The administration’s ongoing efforts for the promotion of transparency, coupled with its sincere commitment to protecting the safety of its citizens, give us hope that more genuine reforms are underway. Moreover, they boost our people’s confidence that cases such as the Maguindanao massacre will finally be resolved, and that the victims and their families will no longer be denied the long-deserved justice promised them.

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