COTABATO CITY - Despite a court sentenced 28 members of a Muslim clan to life in prison for murdering 58 

people, the daughter of one of the slain journalists claimed that she is still trying to survive and fighting for 

justice as the remains of her father has not been recovered.

Of the victims killed in 2009, at least 32 were journalists and media workers. The journalists tagged along 

with a convoy of a local Muslim political clan challenging the Ampatuan family for control of the southern 

province of Maguindanao.


The group was ambushed by members of the Ampatuan family and their henchmen who tried to hide the bodies in a mass grave on a remote hill. The violence exposed bitter rivalries among Muslim clans jostling for control of the south, a mineral-rich area that has for decades been locked 

in insurgency.


“Every year, I am asked how am I, how am I doing, how am I moving on after thirteen years of seeking justice 

for my father, Reynaldo “Bebot” Momay. I would always answer, “Yes, I am still alive and breathing”, said 

Reynafe Momay-Castillo in her message Wednesday during the commemoration of the mass killing described

as the biggest single-day attack on the working press.


“I am indeed broken but capable. I am trying to survive for the sole reason that as a broken person, I don’t 

want my fight for justice to be killed further,” she added.


Momay-Castillo, a nurse now working and living in Canada, said the remains of her father, a photojournalist, 

are still missing. “It will be 2023 next year, and another year that this case will even drag if nothing can be 

done. Time seems freezing and justice seems so far away,” Momay-Castillo said. “There is still hope and 

remedy being God the center of all these things, especially on my quest for justice.” 


In 2019, Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes ordered the sentences without the possibility of parole against Zaldy 

Ampatuan, the former governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and his brother, Andal 

Ampatuan Jr. who engineered the massacre. They are the sons of Andal Ampatuan Sr., the clan patriarch, 

who died in jail before the trial concluded.


The court also found Anwar Ampatuan, Datu Ulo Ampatuan, Datu Ipi Ampatuan, then-police Maj. Sukarno 

Dicay and 22 others were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison as well. Fifteen others were found guilty 

for their roles in the killings and received sentences ranging from six to 10 years.


King Mangudadatu, son of Genalyn, former Maguindanao Governor Esmael Toto Mangudadatu's wife who 

was among the fatalities, said that the incident changed his life. “Until now, I am still seeking justice. We will 

not stop in seeking justice,” he said. (Jeoffrey Maitem)




King, his father, and relatives, offered flowers and prayers Wednesday morning in Salman village, the site of the massacre in the town of Ampatuan in Maguindanao.