Various groups and governments on Tuesday condemned the Maguindanao massacre, where at least 46 people were killed.
The Philippines declared a state of emergency in parts of the volatile South earlier Tuesday as anger spiraled over Monday’s mass killing.

In a reaction, Indonesia’s foreign minister, Dr. R.M. Marty Natalegawa, called for stronger international cooperation in fighting terrorism.

“Any decent human being would abhor this senseless killing and violence. We condemn it, we deplore it, in the strongest possible terms,” Natalegawa told reporters in a press conference at the Heritage Hotel in Pasay City.

Natalegawa is in Manila in line with the celebration of the 60th anniversary of Philippine-Indonesia bilateral relations.

He sympathized with the Philippine, saying Indonesia was also dealing with terrorists.

Natalegawa stressed that eliminating the lawless elements was not a matter of labeling the suspects by nationality or religion, but by having a concrete and effective policy against it.

He said that Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as the other countries, should build a network of cooperation to neutralize terrorism.

“This is a challenge that we need to overcome, and it does not end with condemning these acts,” he added. “We have to share intelligence so that the terrorist space will become less and less. They [terrorist] can run, but they cannot hide.”

EU statement

From Brussels, Agence France-Presse reported that the European Union’s External Relations Commissioner strongly condemned the barbaric massacre.

“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the barbaric killing . . . of innocent civilians, including women, journalists and lawyers, who were preparing to participate in the electoral process in the Philippines,” Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement.

The commissioner noted “with satisfaction” that Philippine President Gloria Arroyo had promised everything possible would be done to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Ferrero-Waldner, sending her condolences to the victims’ families, called for calm.
“In the face of this atrocity, the rule of law and democracy have to prevail,” she said.

Condolences from Japan

Shigehiro Matsuda, third secretary of the Economic Section of Embassy of Japan in Manila, also extended his government’s condolences to the families of the victims.

“We feel sorry for the families of the victims,” he told The Manila Times.

He added that the embassy was assessing the security situation in southern Philippines, but assured that the bloody incident would not affect Japan’s assistance in that part of Mindanao.

Political statements

Officials in the Philippines were equally outraged.

Vice President Noli de Castro said that the barbaric acts in Maguindanao have no place in a civilized society.
“The perpetrators, no matter what power or political influence they wield, should be brought to justice,” de Castro said.

He added that the national government should immediately take a direct hand at restoring law and order in Maguindanao and stop warlordism.

The Philippine Commission on Human Rights agreed, as it called the killers “animals.”

“This is an outrage,” said commission Chairman Lilia de Lima. “Imagine . . . it was not enough that they were unarmed, but they had to behead women? What kind of animals are these killers?”
“If there is no swift intervention, this could lead to an outbreak of even more violence and savagery,” she added.

“The CHR supports the stand of Secretary [Jesus] Dureza on disarmament. It is precisely because national authorities continue to be neglectful of power-wielding local officials that we find vast segments of the countryside population cowering in fear of violence and in fear for their lives,” de Lima said.

In a statement, former President Joseph Estrada said, “There is no room for massacres like this in our democracy. This event, which is beyond shocking, is testament to the reality that under this regime, there is a blatant disregard of the rule of law.”

The province has been ruled by an ally of President Arroyo, Andal Ampatuan, for the past nine years and his clan is alleged to have organized the killings to ensure Mangudadatu would not register as a candidate for governor.

Media organizations

International media groups also expressed outrage over the killings.

The Philippines has long been recognized as one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists.
The journalists were attacked while covering the planned nomination of a local politician, Ismael Mangudadatu, for governor of Maguindanao province in national elections in May next year.

A statement from the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility said, “The brutality and the sheer senselessness of the attack in Maguindanao represent a new low, even in the country’s shameful record of violence. It calls for collective outrage and condemnation and the strongest demand for the immediate apprehension, trial and punishment of those responsible.”

The Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP) also condemned the killings.
“The sorry state of the history of journalist killings in the country, with dozens left unsolved, only serves to reflect the climate of impunity that has fed on our libertarian institutions,” it said in a statement.

“The precarious state of our democratic freedoms even becomes more pronounced now that elections are near, with reports indicating that the carnage, perpetrated by about 100 gunmen, happened to prevent the other party from filing a certificate of candidacy,” the association added.
Journalists in the Bicol region were equally concerned.

Father Pao Barandon, station manager of Radio Veritas Legazpi-Catholic Media Network (CMN) run by the Archdiocese of Legazpi, said that the grisly killings were Godless acts.

“To all media workers, we should not be afraid of this gruesome carnage. We need to do our job to report the truth without fear,” he added. “We need to be watchful and do our job as member of the fourth state so that the people may know the truth and the significant events taking place in our country.”

“Never in the history of journalism have the news media suffered such a heavy loss of life in one day,” said Clothilde Le Coz, the United States director for the global press watchdog Reporters Without Borders.
The Thailand-based Southeast Asian Press Alliance said the Philippines had one of the highest rates of journalist killings in the world “even prior to this heinous episode of barbarism.”

Before the massacre, the New York-based monitor Committee to Protect Journalists ranked the Philippines as the fourth deadliest country for journalists in terms of reporters’ deaths for 2009.

However, Monday’s killings will see the Philippines leapfrog Somalia, Iraq and Pakistan into the top spot.

Sensing danger

It emerged Tuesday that local journalists who regularly cover Maguindanao had stayed away from the opposition activity amid concerns the Ampatuan clan may resort to violence.

Most of the reporters who were targeted had come from neighboring General Santos city.
Myrna Reblando, the widow of the Manila Bulletin reporter Bong Reblando, said that she had tried to dissuade her husband from covering the opposition nominating process.

“I told him, ‘You will be put in a dangerous situation there, and you should not proceed,’” she said on local radio.

But Bong told his wife he thought he would be safe because of the large group of journalists covering the nomination event, as well as the presence of opposition lawyers.

AFP, LLANESCA T. PANTI, IRA KAREN APANAY AND RHAYDZ B. BARCIA