Palimbang massacre
| Malisbong Massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Moro conflict | |
.svg)  Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat (Philippines) | |
| Location | Malisbong, Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat, Philippines |
| Coordinates | 6°20′36″N 124°11′52″E / 6.3432°N 124.1977°E |
| Date | September 24, 1974[1] (UTC +8) |
| Target | Filipino Muslims |
Attack type | Mass shooting |
| Deaths | 1,000[2]–1,500[1] |
| Perpetrators | Philippine Army[3] |
The Malisbong Masjid Massacre, also called the Palimbang Massacre, was the mass murder of Muslim Moros on September 24, 1974, in the coastal village of Malisbong in Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat, Mindanao where units of the Philippine Army killed more than 1,000.[1][2] Accounts compiled by the Moro Women's Center in General Santos City state that 1,500 male Moros aged 11-70 were killed inside a mosque, 3,000 women and children aged 9-60 were detained - with the women being raped and that 300 houses were razed by the government forces.[1] The massacre occurred two years after Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in September 1972.
The massacre started after the first four days on the feast of Ramadan when members of the Philippine Constabulary arrived and captured barangay officials along with 1,000 other Muslims and never came back. For more than a month, the military would capture murder residents in the area by batch. Testimonies show that victims were made to strip of their clothes, dig their own graves and shot. [4]
Remuneration for victims
In 2011, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front sought compensation for the Moro victims of martial law violence in the wake of the distribution of $7.5 million in compensation for more than 1,000 individuals who filed a class suit against the Marcoses. The MILF claimed that thousands of Moros were killed in massacres perpetrated by soldiers and state-sponsored paramilitary forces during martial law. These included the Manili massacre, Kauswagan massacre, Tictapul massacre, Malisbong massacre, Patikul massacre and Pata Island massacre.[5]
In 2014, the Philippine government finally recognized around 1,500 Moro residents of Malisbong village who were killed in the massacre as martial law victims. Representatives of the Commission on Human Rights facilitated the inclusion of the survivors and the families of the massacre victims as among the claimants of the Php 10 billion fund set by the government for the indemnification of human rights victims during the martial law regime of the Ferdinand Marcos, in keeping with the provisions of Republic Act No. 10368, or the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013.[1]
In popular culture
Forbidden Memory is a film based on the Malisbong massacre directed by Davao-based Maguindanao filmmaker Gutierrez Mangansakan. It won Best Documentary from the three finalists in the 12th Cinema One Originals, the annual film festival sponsored by Cinema One.[6]
References
- ^ a b c d e "1,500 Moro massacre victims during Martial Law honored". Mindanews. 26 September 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
- ^ a b Santos, Chyna (11 April 2015). "Violence in Mindanao". The Guidon. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
- ^ Hilotin, Jay B. (5 February 2015). "Why 'total war' is a path that leads to nowhere". Gulf News. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
- ^ "1974 Malisbong Massacre memorialized in "Forbidden Memory" film".
- ^ Fernandez, Edwin (3 March 2011). "MILF seeks compensation for Moro victims of martial law". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
- ^ "Davao-based director's docu gets Cinema One Originals nod". Mindanao Times. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2016.