Maguindanao Massacre, Warlordism and a Meaningful Death
By now you’ve probably heard about the Maguindanao Massacre.
A witness recently surfaced and tagged Andal Ampatuan Jr. as the mastermind. Ampatuan Jr. is the son of Maguindanao Governor Andal Sr., both belonging to the powerful Ampatuan clan in Mindanao.
Anyone from the Mangudadatu clan – women or children – should be killed… We don’t ask why, we just followed orders,” the witness who identified himself as “Boy” told Al-Jazeera correspondent Marga Ortigas in an interview posted on the network’s website Thursday.
My former boss once worked in Del Monte, a company that had large acres of farmland in Mindanao. He was familiar with the political warlords in the area. One time, he described an Airport scene were airline officials tried to stop one mayor from bringing several large bags (loaded with cash) in the plane. They cited Airline regulations on so on. This mayor, along with some bodyguards, threatened menacingly and eventually got their way.
Warlordism, my old boss described, was very real. People in those provinces worshiped, without question, the clan leaders. Here, illiterates were taught to write – one name only – during elections. They didn’t know what the symbols meant. They were just told to write it on the ballots or they’d be punished. Disobedience meant death.
I couldn’t believe it when he told me that.
Now, reading all the news articles, I’m no longer surprised.
Unfortunately, it is a fact of life. Here in Manila, we’d all like to believe we’re already civilized. In some parts of the country, there are real monsters that kill and rape.
Just imagine if you were with that convoy. What would you, could you, have done?
Thinking about it now, if I knew I was going to die anyway, I’d take some of them with me. Grab a grenade or gun and just kill some of the guards – hopefully give someone else running/fighting chance.
Hey, we live once. Might as well die meaningfully.
In retrospect, with all the media attention this is getting, maybe there might be justice. Maybe Maguinadanao will change. Maybe their deaths will also have meaning.