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What compelled local politicians in the Philippines to massacre 57 people, more than half of them journalists? Archipelago TV’s Orlando de Guzman returns to Maguindanao Province in the southern Philippines to unravel the country’s violent local politics and the deep-seated corruption that supports it. Broadcast on AlJazeera’s current affairs programme focusing on Asia, 101 East. Duration: 22:30
On November 23, 2009, nearly 200 followers of the powerful Ampatuan clan in Maguindanao province stopped a convoy of vehicles belonging to journalists and election supporters of a rival political candidate. What ensued that morning was one the worst cases of political violence in Philippine history: 57 people, more than half of them local journalists, shot point-blank in cold blood. The killing of so many journalists in one incident is unprecedented, but violence as a political tool for projecting power is not new in the Philippines. The massacre unveils a deep-seated culture of impunity and a political system that rewards violence, patronage, and dynastic power.
Credits:
Orlando de Guzman, Director/Producer/Camera/Editor
Romy Elusfa, Field Producer
Sharon Roobol, Commissioning Editor, Al Jazeera
Additional reporting by Marga Ortigas, Aljazeera Manila Bureau
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