UPDATED: These pictures are not for the faint of heart – click here.

As I went on a “social network hiatus” (if there is such a thing) last week, the most depressing news that the Philippines (and the world) had known is the gruesome death of more than fifty people in the Maguindanao massacre (or appropriately Ampatuan massacre). They were mostly women, with one of them pregnant. Many of the victims were shot on the face to make them unrecognizable and even others were even shot in the genital area. They were traveling in a convoy before some armed men blocked them along the highway.

I felt so sad about that news that I really wanted to curse and get mad at the people who did this, even if I may not have blood-relatives to that incident. I think, this is far worse than what the known Mindanao rebels in the area do to their captives (the rebels usually kept their captives, ask ransom demands from the government and then usually released later)!

As the investigations unfolded, the death was purely election-related violence. The Ampatuans and Mangdadatus were always bitter enemies for sometime. It turned out that the Ampatuans wanted to make sure that they are still elected into power by eliminating the Mangdadatu family through that mass murder.

Vice Mayor Ismael Mangdadatu lost his wife and several other family members. He was not in the convoy that day due to death threats. He sent female family members to file certificate of candidacy on his behalf with that belief that women are far from being harmed.

The journalists and lawyers who accompanied with the convoy were not spared from death. There were even later reports that were even some civilians who were not with the convoy but were included in the killings.

Apparently, the original plan was to bury everyone after being killed on big dug-up holes on the mountainside. One of the news vehicles was crushed – in it were four journalist who met their death that way.

Andal Ampatuan Jr., the suspect behind the killings, is behind bars awaiting trial. Witnesses are now speaking up and are ready to speak up.

I am sure that this is not the only place where political greed happens. Our government had thrived on corruption and violence for many decades. We had rich politicians living amongst the poor.We had rebels in living in our midst.

With the international community condemning the news, the pressure to find the killers is on the government. But this massacre is just one media sensation – how are about the other election-related deaths that didn’t get a huge media buzz?