InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA, Philippines -- As the country commemorates the second year of the Maguindanao massacre, Malacanang clarified on Wednesday that the state of emergency in Maguindanao remains in effect contrary to reports that it has been lifted.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the state of emergency in Maguindanao is still being enforced to ensure the peace and order situation in the province.
The country commemorates Wednesday, Nov. 23, the second year of the Maguindanao massacre, the bloodiest single-day killings in the country’s electoral history.
In a media briefing in Malacanang, Lacierda said President Benigno S. Aquino III knows the concerns of the relatives of the victims of the Maguindanao massacre.
He recalled that the President met the families and relatives of the victims even during the presidential campaign last year, adding that the Chief Executive promised to provide security to make sure that the witnesses are protected.
The Palace spokesman said that fast-tracking the Maguindanao massacre trial now lies solely lies in the hands of the judiciary and not the Executive Branch.
“We ourselves in the Executive Branch share the public’s concern that this case is taking so long and we hope that the Judiciary would take a second look at the pace of the Maguindanao trial so that justice may be obtained within this term, within the administration of President Aquino,” Lacierda said.
Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo placed the provinces of Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato City under a state of emergency on November 24, 2009, following the massacre. Fifty-seven people died in the brutal killings.
The state of emergency was declared in the said localities to prevent and suppress lawless elements in the area, according to a Palace statement at that time. The powerful Ampatuan clan, most of them now in government custody, has been linked to the killings.
