HUNDREDS of media members, progressive groups, students, lawyers from the Union of People’s Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM), and church leaders marched to express outrage over Maguindanao massacre, Friday.

The group walked from Kiosko Kagawasan in Divisoria to the Press Freedom Monument at the Provincial Capitol.

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Majority of the members of the media wore black shirts and arm bands in honor of their colleagues, who were among those brutally killed.

As of 6 p.m. Friday, almost 30 members of the media who were killed in the massacre were already identified, four of whom are correspondents of Gold Star Daily and two from Bombo Radyo Philippines.

Heads of media organizations, such as the Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC), Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters sa Pilipinas (KBP), National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), and Philippine National Police Press Corps (NPPC), are unanimous in calling for justice and the immediate incarceration of the perpetrators.

KBP chair Ryan Carbon said there must be a total crackdown of those involved in the massacre while COPC president Vincent Jaudian hoped that the incident would be the last.

Lawyer Bobby Goking, chair of NUJP-Cagayan de Oro chapter, said there is now a race happening in Maguindanao – "a race between gathering of evidence and destroying evidence."

Goking said he hopes justice will prevail and that the government should prosecute the perpetrators.

He added that local media practitioners will offer a daily prayer for the killed journalists at the Press Freedom monument. “We should never forget. We should always carry them in our thoughts and prayers until justice is served,” Goking said.

Herbie Gomez, editor-in-chief of Gold Star Daily, said he is ashamed to live in a country like the Philippines, which is a classic example of a failed democracy.

“We need a revolution now, and this should start from within ourselves. Let us not allow political warlords to rule over us,” Gomez said, who was teary-eyed at the thought that four of his correspondents were included in the massacre.

Towards the end of the rally, Father Anton Ablon of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) offered prayers to those who were killed in Maguindanao.

At 7 a.m. Saturday, all radio stations in Cagayan de Oro will join with the rest of the Philippine media institutions to offer a one-minute silence in honor of the slain journalists. (Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/Sunnex)