Nov 23 Maguindanao massacre commemoration set - RIC CLET and MARIZ REVALES

Iligan City – Media personalities from different outlets in Mindanao will be supporting in full sympathy the program set the in the first year commemoration of the brutal  Maguindanao massacre which killed 57 people including journalists on November 23,2009.

Media groups from other areas of Ozamiz, Pagadian, Dipolog, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and Marawi cities will be joining other colleagues for a prayer and candle-lighting programs at the main street going towards the massacre site at Sitio Malating,Barangay Salman, Ampatuan, Maguindanao.

Expectedly other sectors will be joining the group along with the relatives of the victims.

The three day journey, the group will be travelling by land passing  Lanao del Norte and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao area of Lanao del Sur will start on November 21 to November 23.

In line with the National Union of Journalist (NUJP) and Governor Esmael Mangudadatu of Maguindanao Province had intend to make the program solemn and worthy of the commemoration.

Mangudadatu in an earlier press conference at Datu Paglas disclosed that November 23 is special holiday in Maguindanao.

The Maguindanao massacre, also known as the Ampatuan massacre, last year of  November 23, 2009 in in Maguindanao province.

At the time, the massacre victims were on their way to file Esmael Mangudadatu's certificate of candidacy for Maguindanao governor. Mangudadatu, then Buluan vice mayor, won the gubernatorial post during the May 10 polls.

The 57 people who were brutally killed and buried in a mass grave in Ampatuan town included Mangudadatu's wife, his two sisters, journalists, lawyers, aides, and motorists who were witnesses or were mistakenly identified as part of the convoy.