Atty. Dennis Gorecho Posted on October 31, 2026 at 8:38 AM
“When I hear 57, I really can’t accept it. I always tell people, 58, 58, 58!” – a line delivered by actress Glaiza de Castro who played the role of Reynafe Momay-Castillo in the docu-drama film “58th”.
I was able to watch on September 22, 2026 at Shangrila Plaza Red Carpet Cinemas the screening of 58th which narrates the legal journey of the last numbered victim’s daughter in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre.
32 journalists were part of the convoy of 58 people, who were on their way to file the certificate of candidacy on behalf of Esmael Mangudadatu, vice-mayor of Buluan and the opposition candidate running against the politician, Datu Andal “Unsay “ Ampatuan, Jr for the governorship of Maguindanao.
Everyone in the convoy were brutally slaughtered by forces directed by the powerful Ampatuan family, considered as the world’s worst single-day murder of media workers and the worst case of election-related violence in the country’s history.
The 58 killed included Mangudadatu’s wife, his two sisters, journalists, lawyers, aides, and motorists who were witnesses or were mistakenly identified as part of the convoy.
Ten years later, on December 2019, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 convicted Andal Ampatuan Jr., his brother Zaldy Ampatuan along with 28 other accomplices and 15 accessories to the crime. including senior police officers, for the mass murder of 57 persons.
The Court held that the killings qualified as murder, since it satisfied the first and fifth provisions of Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) which provided that a person would be guilty of murder, when the killing of another is committed (1) with treachery, taking advantage of superior strength, with the aid of armed men, or employing means to weaken the defense or of means or persons to insure or afford impunity and (5) with evident premeditation.
However, Reynaldo “Bebot” Momay, a photojournalist for the Sultan Kudarat-based Midland Review, would have been number 58.
Unlike the 57 other victims whose bodies were recovered and identified, Momay’s physical remains were never found at the massacre site.
The trial court acquitted the accused of Momay’s specific murder charge due to reasonable doubt because his body was missing.
His family—represented by his daughter. Reynafe and CenterLaw Philippines—has continued the legal battle before the Court of Appeals for full judicial recognition.
“History will never forget the atrocities perpetrated” declared the Supreme Court in Ampatuan Jr., vs. De Lima (G.R. No. 197291, April 03, 2013) in one of the cases linked with the massacre.
“It is not simply about looking back at something painful that happened in the past. It is about refusing to let the people we loved and the truth of what happened to them slowly disappear into silence.” Momay-Castillo said in an interview.
She added: “I want the next generation to know what happened; not so they will inherit our anger or our grief, but so they will understand the value of truth, justice, courage, and human life.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called the Ampatuan massacre the “single deadliest event” for journalists since they began compiling records in 1992. Even before the massacre, the CPJ had labelled the Philippines the second most dangerous country for journalists, second only to Iraq.
Directed by Carl Joseph Papa and a screenplay co-written with Aica Riz Ganhinhin, 58th features the voices of Glaiza de Castro as Nenen and the late Ricky Davao as Bebot Momay, which was one of his final film roles before he died on May 2025.
The film was created entirely using rotoscoping animation—where animators trace over real-life video frame-by-frame—seamlessly blended with actual archival news footage from the tragedy’s aftermath.
Veteran journalist Howie Severino said that “animation is used to tell the tender story of Momay’s family: their simple joys before the tragedy and the torturous emotional limbo of not finding the body of their loved one.”
Severino added “animation gave the filmmakers the freedom to explore emotions and visualize testimony to reveal truths that might have been unattainable otherwise.”
The creative approach opens the door to lyrical imagining of times past, present and future.
The film had its Philippine premiere on August 13, 2026 at the Shangri-La Plaza during the 2026 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival.
The film earlier premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival and in the 2026 Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
After initially being denied a permit for commercial screenings because it could influence ongoing legal cases, “58th” was finally allowed screening also at Shangri-La Plaza from September 16 to 22, 2026.
“Through this film, we give voice to the victims and the families affected by the massacre. It can amplify attention to the important stories that deserve to be heard,” de Castro said.
(Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the Seafarers’ Division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan Law Offices. For comments, e-mail info@sapalovelez.com, or call 0908-8665786.)
