Reliving the Maguindanao Massacre over and over again

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This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series Maguindanao Massacre: The Quest for Justice

Maguindanao Massacre: The Quest for Justice

Justice for Maguindanao Massacre victims
Courage in (High) Heels
Reliving the Maguindanao Massacre over and over again

Last updated: January 5, 2010

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reports in today’s Sunday paper of the existence and proliferation of a so-called “Maguindanao (Massacre) 11/23/2009“ video footage done in the semblance of a documentary which sells from around 70 to 120 pesos each. The video, it was said, is about four hours (2 days) worth of taped footage of the retrieval operations (at the crime scene where the back hoe was found beside the shallow grave hurriedly dug up by the perpetrators to bury the victims, some of them still alive).

There is no script, no background music, no sound but that of the back hoe as it digs for victims. There were vendors of these dvds claiming the ones they’re selling are clear copies since they were taken by Digger
Photo by chefrandenSOCO (scene of the crime operatives) themselves.

I don’t know about you but I think it is very insensitive to sell, buy and watch these DVDs. Considering that the people being unearthed in all their stripped glory and humanity are real victims and not actors — the red stains on their violated bodies are of real blood — whoever sold these taped videos to be reproduced and peddled in the very streets and public markets of Maguindanao spits on the memory of these poor souls whose lives were taken mercilessly on that fateful Monday.

If it weren’t even considered okay to publish gory still photos online or offline, why would anyone think that it’s okay to watch the retrieval operations over and over again at home?

The mourning families of these victims have suffered enough. The memory of that gruesome event is hard enough to erase. Let us be sensitive enough to spare them of the endless grief of reliving the Maguindanao massacre over and over again.

Please do not buy, sell or watch these “Maguindanao 11/23/09″ DVDs.

Update:

I’ve recently read this heartening report that as of Monday, January 4,2010 some 600 “Maguindanao 11/23/09″ DVDs have been ‘surrendered’ by Quiapo vendors to Optical Media Board Chair Ronnie Ricketts. This is a wonderful development. Let’s hope more vendors follow suit.