Sunday, January 10, 2010

House raids in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao

It seems that we will see more violence in the Philippines as we come closer to election day. The people are afraid particularly those in southern parts of the country. What effective measures should be done to stop these? The authorities do not seem to play the roles they must do to protect the people.

I received this message from a friend in Maguindanao few hours ago. Below is the script of that message. It was received from my computer between 2:49 and 2:54 a.m., 10 January 2010 (Philippine time).

6:29AM
I was just awaken by shouts and cries a few minutes ago. Duty ako dito Provincial Hospital. (I am on duty here at the Provincial Hospital).

A wave of lawlessness is creeping here in Shariff Aguak and nearby towns. Heavily armed men have been raiding houses (burning some of them). They get anything that interest them but basically looking for guns.

Pinasok ng mga armado ang bahay ng mga staff dito located about 20 meters away from the ER! (Armed men raided the houses of staff members located about 20 meters from the ER!)

Pinasok din nila houses sa katabing community. (They also raided the houses of nearby communities.) Gunfires occured. I just did packing/bandaging/splinting of a severely injured old man. He is lost a lot of blood. They waited for the armed men to leave before they sent him here sa hosp. He kept shouting "aray, wala ako kasalanan. masakit masyado, hayaan nyo na ako mamatay." (Ouch, I didn't do anything wrong. It hurts so much. Let me die.") More victims to arrive I was told.

6:43AM
Me: Was it the military or the Ampatuans?
Friend: Don't know Gino. Could be the MILF, maybe the Ampatuan supporters, probably the military. They can't say daw. Sayang di ko napicturran. Ang laki tlaga ng injury na sa hita, wasak masyado! Fractured din humerus nya. ("I wasn't able to take photos. The thigh injury was so severe. He also sustained fracture.") Lakas ng loob ng mga armado. The provincial PNP Headquarters is only about 250m from here! ("The armed men were really mean. Yet the police headquarters is only about 250 meters from here!")

allvoices

1 comment:

  1. whoa. i think there's a problem with the reports coming from the media and what's really happening down there. there are some rumors that the reason for martial law was to destroy evidence that may link ampatuan to the mass murders and destroy evidence about the connections of the ampatuans with the government, with the arroyos, etc.

    if the government is really serious about it, they could have sent every ampatuan to jail as suspects not as "people against the government". instead, these ampatuans seems they are against the people, their constitutuents. i even heard/ read something from the news i think or from print or the internet about how come the ampatuans have this splurge of wealth and yet their town is one of the poorest in our country. there's really something fishy, i think that the investigation should be even broadcast live or at least documented for every filipino.

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