MENDIOLA RALLY -- Press Secretary Cerge Remonde went out of his way to meet and commiserate with his colleagues in a rally at Mendiola on Monday. (November 30, 2009) against media killings and justice for the victims of the Maguindanao massacre. Remonde conveyed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the government's resolve to immediately address the Maguindanao issue and oneness in condemning lawlessness and atrocities against mediamen. Flanking the Press Secretary are National Press Club (NPC) president Benny Antiporda (left) and Anbalagan Veerasamy, secretary general of the Confederation of ASEAN Journalists (CAJ). (Marcelino Pascua/OPS-NIB Photo)

The Philippine government today in a press release –  ”Assured journalists groups, both in the country and abroad, that it is doing everything to bring the perpetrators of the Maguindanao massacre before the bar of justice at the earliest possible time.” the release goes on to say that, “Even as we speak now, soldiers and policemen are conducing house-to-house searches,” said Press Secretary Cerge Remonde in a hastily called media briefing. “Guns are being confiscated, arrests are being made, and cases are being filed.”

The press secretary made the disclosure in the presence of Benny Antiporda, president of the National Press Club, and Anbalagan Veerasamy, secretary-general of the Malaysia-based Confederation of ASEAN Journalists.

Remonde had just come from Chino Roces Avenue, near Malacanang Palace, where he met practicing journalists who were holding an indignation rally over the killing of 57 people, 30 of them members of different media organizations in the country. In the rally, apart from Antiporda and Veersamy and their respective members, were Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and Gabriela Rep. Liza Masa, as well as members of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, National Union of Peoples Lawyers, and College Editors Guild of the Philippines.

The slain journalists were in the company of the wife and relatives and supporters of Vice Mayor Ishmael Mangundadatu when the group was waylaid, herded to a pre-dug grave, and executed.  Quoting from a press statement issued by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Remonde said the murders should serve to prompt the nation “to rededicate itself to the freedom of the press and the freedom of political expression.”

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