NLG: Massacre part of the ‘killing pattern’ (tags)
-THE MASSACRE in Maguindanao on Nov. 23 that has left more than 50 dead, many of them women, follows the pattern of extrajudicial killings that has been plaguing the Philippines. Death squads have been murdering progressive activists with impunity. The death count has reached more than 1,000 since Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s presidency began. Twenty-two lawyers and 15 judges had been killed before this massacre, and among the dead in Maguindanao are two women lawyers from the National Union of People’s Lawyers—Concepcion “Connie” Brizuela and Cynthia Oquendo.