On the morning of 23 November, about 100 armed men stopped a convoy on a highway in Maguindanao province, Mindanao, that was carrying relatives and supporters of a vice-mayoral candidate, along with journalists covering the filing of his candidacy papers. The gunmen, allegedly acting for the rival Ampatuan political clan, forced the group into a nearby field and killed 58 people, 32 of them media workers. It remains the deadliest single attack on journalists ever recorded. The massacre drew international condemnation and led to a trial that ran for roughly a decade before several Ampatuan family members were convicted of murder, a rare instance of accountability in a country where killings of journalists seldom end in conviction.
On the morning of November 23, 2009, a convoy carrying relatives and supporters of a local vice-mayoral candidate, along with dozens of journalists documenting the filing of his candidacy papers, was stopped by around 100 armed men on a highway in Maguindanao province, Mindanao. The gunmen, allegedly acting on orders from the rival Ampatuan political clan, forced the group into a nearby field and executed nearly all of them.
Fifty-eight people were killed, including 32 media workers, making it the single deadliest attack on journalists ever recorded anywhere in the world. Bodies were found buried in shallow graves, some run over by a backhoe in an apparent attempt at concealment.
The massacre triggered international outrage and a years-long trial implicating powerful local officials, exposing the violent culture of clan-based politics and impunity in the southern Philippines. In December 2019, a Philippine court finally convicted several members of the Ampatuan family of multiple counts of murder, a rare instance of accountability in a country where killings of journalists rarely result in conviction.