Have We Forgotten?

With all the brouhaha that is the upcoming elections, how can we forget Maguindanao? Until today, wives, sisters, mothers, fathers, brothers and children still grieve in vain for the loved ones they lost. They are six feet under and pushing up daisies, silenced and missed forever. I wonder that now with people all hot and bothered by Villar, Aquino and all their madness, the dead and their families may feel all the more bitter about their lives unceremoniously snuffed by men that are still not convicted.

I know there are processes. I know we have law. But those processes are slow. And not merely enough to satisfy the anger that I'm sure is still boiling inside the families of the departed. So many people were outraged by the massacre and I was seriously hoping that that fire will burn until the criminals have already been sentenced. But look at the dailies, the blogosphere, and television and radio. We very rarely ever hear of the massacre anymore. We barely hear of the biggest massacre of journalists during peacetime. A little bit over four months and it seems that it was SOOO yesterday. We buried the issue in our memory just like the Ampatuans tried to do with the bodies.

Four months. I know of women who cry, blog, and lament over an ex for longer than that. Lots of them, actually.

So. Where are the hecklers who drilled the Ampatuans? Where are Twitter updates? Where are the blog entries. Where are the specials about the families of the killed journalists. Where are the coverages of the court proceedings. I'm looking for something, any damned thing, that will remind people that 'Hey, there was a body attached to that dirt and blood stained hand. And that body was murdered and covered with a banana leaf. And that place where they were murdered will forever have the stench of death and crime all over it.'



So. Where?

I am voting for someone who will hopefully put this issue in the top folder of his to-do list. I want him to promise that he will bring justice to this horrendous crime by end-of-year. And I want him to do this and wipe that stupid, confident grin off that monster's face and lock him up forever.

I am angry that I have forgotten about this, myself. And today, as we reflect on the suffering of Christ, may we all remember the suffering of those 57 people who got killed. I'm not even looking at them as 57 journalists, but 57 human beings whose lives are lost forever, like candles snuffed by a spoiled, belligerent child. Let's all remember their families and how lucky we are we still have ours. Let's all remember the fire and anger we had when we first knew about the massacre and let's keep that going. We owe them that, at least.