The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) condemns in the strongest possible terms the abduction and massacre of at least 36 Filipinos in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao. Reports coming out of the Philippines say at least 12 journalists who were among the abductees have been slain.

It is widely believed that the horrific episode was brought about by a bitter feud among entrenched political clans in Maguindanao. Media and authorities have been quick to tag the massacre as election-related, certainly among the worst that has been seen in the Philippines in decades.

SEAPA calls on the Philippine government to do all that it must to halt the violence and bring the murderers to justice.

As swiftly as they must act, however, the Philippine leaders must also, once and for all, demonstrate its accountability for the larger toxic climate that suffocates Filipinos and Philippine democracy. The government must own up to what it has allowed to fester: an environment of impunity that had already taken hundreds of lives, including that of hundreds of journalists, long before the recent Maguindanao tragedy took place.

Even the warlordism that must be fought and condemned in Maguindanao is but a symptom of what truly has Filipinos and their democracy beleaguered.

The perpetrators behind the most heinous acts in Maguindanao must be brought to justice. Immediately. Failure to act, we are afraid, would not only be an indictment of Philippine leadership. It will be nothing new.

“The Philippines had one of the highest rates of journalist killings in the world even prior to this heinous episode of barbarism,” SEAPA Executive Director Roby Alampay said. “Even the scale of one day’s carnage cannot mask the years of government inaction, denial, and ineptitude that have allowed violence to go unpunished. That climate of impunity that has been allowed to fester is what has made all Filipinos—not just activists, politicians, or mediamen—vulnerable to powers and interests intolerant of dissent or even just independent voices.”

The clear role that warlordism plays in this, one of the bloodiest episodes in recent Philippine history, should not absolve the government of its accountability for the larger environment it has tolerated, patronized and therefore nurtured.