InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA – Philippine legislators on Wednesday filed proposals to make November 23 a “national day to end impunity,” in commemoration of the Ampatuan Massacre that took place in Maguindanao two years ago today.
In the Senate, Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan filed Proposed Senate Resolution 642 for the purpose. In the Lower House, Bayan Muna partylist Representatives Teddy Casino and Neri Colmenares filed House Bill 5529 for an annual National Consciousness Day to End Impunity, also every November 23.
"It's been two years since the gruesome event and still our countrymen cry out for justice for the victims of the Maguindanao massacre. It was the worst single instance of electoral violence in our country's history and the deadliest affront against freedom of the press,” Pangilinan said in the resolution.
Pangilinan said the Maguindanao massacre gave the Philippines international notoriety as one of the most dangerous places for journalists. “We must never forget that day when the culture of impunity showed us its worst manifestation."
November 23 has been declared worldwide as the International Day to End Impunity. Pangilinan also reiterated his call for the judiciary and the police to put an end to the widespread killings and attempts to kill journalists in the country.
"Until when will we have to wait for justice to be served? It is exactly this failure to solve all, save for a pitiful handful, of these murder cases, as well as an ineptitude in enforcing existing laws, that has bred this culture of impunity,” Pangilinan said. He said the government must exhaust all efforts to bring justice to those victims and expedite the countless unsolved cases of extrajudicial killings.
“Marking it as a National Consciousness Day to end Impunity will remind us that as long as high crimes remain unpunished, the fight against injustice in the country should continue to broaden and persist,” Casino and Colmenares said in their resolution.
