The brutal slaying of almost 60 unarmed civilians, including women, children and journalists in Mindanao, Southern Philippines in the last week of November, is a stark reminder that violence is endemic to this troubled region and that Islamic extremism isn’t the only cause.
In a planned operation, the victims were systematically executed by one clan’s henchman bent on sending a message to a rival clan competing against it in local elections. Sadly, while the scale of the brutality may have been unprecedented, the killings were not unpredictable.
Despite the country’s vibrant democratic system, across the Philippines most provincial political leaders employ licensed armed individuals for protection and in some cases intimidation of their rivals. It’s said that to win an election in the Philippines, one needs the three ‘G’s: guns, goons and gold.
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