Filipinos have long been inured to poll-related violence in their country, but even jaded observers were stunned by the unprecedented mass murder last Monday of 57 people in Maguindanao, a politically volatile province on Mindanao Island. A scion of a powerful political clan allied with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is the suspected mastermind of the massacre.
The massacre is the most outrageous example of what Filipinos have long lamented as the usual ingredients of their elections--“goons, guns and gold.” “Peaceful elections” in their country often turn into armed struggles, not for revolutionary change, but for the perpetuation of one elite faction over another. The horrific crime also shows the extremely rough social terrain confronting Filipinos’ still unsuccessful efforts to build a modern democratic state.
The popular outcry against the premeditated massacre—the killers had dug a mass grave before the group abduction and execution—shows that the crime had unacceptably crossed a line. Not only did the number of fatalities overshadow previous acts of non-ideological political violence, but the nature of the killings shocked: supporters and relatives of a would-be gubernatorial candidate and member of a rival clan as well as women, 18 journalists, and travelers innocently passing the scene of the atrocity. The next election isn’t until May next year, but the guns are already blazing.
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http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=269963637e1b3f683f0f2924eb319c34
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