By Allen Estabillo/PNA
GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Nothing less than a conviction.
This was the stand of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) as it joined the call of the families of the Maguindanao massacre victims to bring to justice the perpetrators of the gruesome Nov. 23, 2009 incident that left 58 people dead, including 32 journalists.
In a regional forum on media safety and security here Friday, PTFoMS executive director and Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Undersecretary Joel Egco expressed confidence over the conviction of the principal suspects in the massacre based on the evidence presented by the prosecution during the almost nine-year trial.
At least 197 suspects have been charged with multiple murder over the massacre, led by the late former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his sons former Datu Unsay, Maguindanao Mayor Andal Jr., former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy and former Maguindanao acting governor Sajid Islam.
The cases against Andal Jr. and the other principal suspects are up for resolution by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes following the conclusion of the trial last November 5.
“After nine years, we can finally say that we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel,” Egco said in his speech.
He said he expects that all principal suspects will get a conviction on all charges. Should the Ampatuan brothers get away with the case, the official said it would be pointless for him to remain in his post and will just return to farming and media work.
“I will just file my resignation,” he said.
Before joining the government in 2016, Egco was an editor and chief of reporters at The Manila Times.
“We expect a conviction, no less. Justice, no less. That’s how confident I am with this case and I hope that it will happen,” he said.
Egco, along with PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar, visited for the first time on Thursday the massacre site in Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman in Ampatuan, Maguindanao.
He said Andanar retraced what happened during the incident, starting from the national highway intersection in Sitio Masalay where the convoy of vehicles carrying the victims was initially flagged down.
Family members of then Buluan, Maguindanao vice mayor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu and media workers from this city and nearby areas were on their way to the Commission on Elections provincial office in Shariff Aguak town to file his certificate of candidacy for governor.
Egco said “it felt different” as they neared “ground zero”, where they were later met by now Governor Mangudadatu.
Mangudadatu said it was the first time that top government officials, especially a cabinet member, visited the massacre site.
Egco said Mangudadatu recalled that it was President Rodrigo Duterte, then the mayor of Davao City, whom he approached for help and who immediately responded.
Hours after the convoy disappeared, he said the Mangudadatu camp discovered the massacre and located the site through a helicopter provided by the President.
“The President was actually among the first responders when it (massacre) happened,” he said.
After the forum, Egco was set to meet with the families of the slain journalists and join them in a Mass at the Forest Lake Memorial Park here to commemorate the 9th anniversary of the massacre.
Twelve of the journalists killed in the election-related incident were buried at the memorial park here.
Grace Morales, wife of victim Rossel Morales, expressed gratefulness for the national government’s effort to ensure justice for the victims.
“We’re hoping that proper justice will be served, and we want to see Usec. Egco continue fighting for our cause and other victims of media killings,” she told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
Morales, secretary of the Justice Now Movement, added that they remain hopeful that the other suspects who remain at-large would also be captured and convicted for their role in the horrific crime.
