Faster than you can say "wiki."

by Hermilia C. Banayat-Nas (2nd post)

The young Ampatuan is feeling cranky. All his growing years he was made to believe that he is entitled to be Maguindanao's executive. He wanna, really wanna that position. At the slightest "no" he throws a tantrum.

I slept last night still feeling disgusted. For at least three days I heard and read of news on the Ampatuan massacre. The details are slow to come out, and they only get worse.

I woke up, planning to shift my attention to some other thing to blog about. One last peek at the news, I said, thinking of the murders. My Chrome opens to its default search engine, Google, and I type: "maguindanao massacre." The first entry was a list of new results which I do not choose because Gloria Arroyo's picture was beside the links.

The second result was a link to Wikipedia. I clicked on it. The entry contained a factual narrative of the horrific event, and some--there was a three-tiered summary discussing the attack, aftermath and victims of the brutal killings. I check the statistics and the accounts. Fairly factual.

Click: this is how fast information has become available because of the Internet. More than that, this is how fast justice has become reachable because of the Internet. While it may take years before the killings would be attributed to the masterminds, if at all, Wikipedia has already associated "massacre" with the Ampatuans. The "link" was established, faster than you can say "wiki."

Yes, this is not enough. Ideally, investigations should unmistakably point to the Ampatuans as the perpetrators who have caused at least fifty-seven families to grieve the loss of their loved ones. The victims would only be avenged by the promulgation by a court of justice of a decision finding the Ampatuan warlords guilty of the murders.

But it is a start. The Wiki entry is evidence that the massacre has taken its rightful place in the public agenda. It is reflective of the indignation and the disgust that has resulted from society's assessment of the incident. It shows how people regard the killings--not lightly--and how much pressure there is to hasten the investigations.

The blogs, accounts and news in the Internet expressing outrage over the bestial attitude of the Ampatuans in protecting their political throne in Maguindanao should not only spark hatred against the monsters who raped, killed and tortured the victims. These should also offer a scintilla of hope to the families.

Ampatuan sits on a cushioned sofa in the National Bureau of Investigation, irritated that he has to play make-believe. He does not like this at all.