On November 23, 57 Filipino citizens were massacred during the beginning stages of an election. Violence during the run-up to elections was no surprise to the civilians in the Philippines; in the 2004 elections 148 people were killed.
Ismael “Toto” Mangudadtu wanted to run for governor of Maguindanao, a provience in the Philippines, last May. He received several threats stating that if he filed the candidate papers himself he would be kidnapped. He didn’t want to take the risk, so he sent his wife and sisters to file the papers. He was under the impression “that women would have some protection” said journalist Maria Ressa to CNN.
When they arrived to file the candidate papers, Army officials said the group of 40 people, including journalists and women, found themselves surrounded by 100 gunmen who were ordering them to step out of their vehicles. The men then took the group hostage. Officials stated that the gunmen had taken the hostages to a mountainous area near by.
Out of the 57 people that were killed in the political massacre at Maguindanao, at least 26 were journalists. “Never in the history of journalism have the news media suffered such a heavy loss of life in one day,” said Reporters Without Borders.
“Being a female from the Philippines, it makes me sick that these people would kill innocent civilians because of an election, especially how many of them were woman,” said junior Carrie Vergel De Dios.
The candidates’ wife and one sister were also killed in the massacre. Other than the numerous causalities, it is said that many of the women captured were beaten, raped, and tortured.
The Filipino government has increased security in after the massacre. “The Filipino government needs to improve their security to make sure that incidents like this don’t happen again. It is pretty ridiculous for people to be killed because of an election,” said Junior Banna Gebremichael.
It is said that the killings were an attempt by supporters of the current governor of Maguindanao to stop Mangudadtu from running for governor
