Philippines Politics Is Often Mad. It Just Got Crazier
Manila cannot afford to be distracted by the latest round of clan rivalry and violent threats.
A political rivalry is playing out in bizarre ways.
Source: SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
Political violence is nothing new in the Philippines. It was, after all, the site of the world’s worst massacre of media workers when 58 people, including 32 journalists, were murdered in 2009 while traveling in an election convoy on the southern island of Mindanao.
The powerful Ampatuan clan had pre-dug a vast grave in preparation for the cars carrying relatives of their rival, Esmael Mangudadatu, to arrive at a police checkpoint. Heavily armed gunmen intercepted the motorcade, killing then burying them all. I was on Mindanao soon after as part of a team of press freedom groups including the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Federation of Journalists that examined the killings: It was a chilling scene. There’s been a steady stream of local assassinations and kidnappings ever since, and plenty beforehand, too.