MILF Firing Squad Photo Gallery by Bobby Timonera at pbase.com

MILF Firing Squad

I took these shots in Lanao del Sur, October 1997. The two firing squad victims were accused of frustrated murder, found guilty by the MILF's Shariah Court. The photos and stories ran for nearly a week on Page 1 of the Inquirer. AsiaWeek also ran one pix for a 2-page spread for its yearend issue.

The victim showing stab wounds.	Reading the guilty verdict.	The crowd.
Waiting for the moment.	Ready ...	Fire!
Sentence served.	Wrong hit.	Checking the wounds.
Bringing the bodies down.	Nobody came to weep.

comment |

Glendon Macquinto		13-Apr-2009 14:39
very brave bobby, wish i have the guts like yours. well done in documenting this event of the scariest area of mindanao.

Bobby Timonera		09-Jan-2009 00:44
Hey, Guest, or whoever you are hiding in anonymity -- I had a job to do, and so I had to do the job. And when I’m tasked to do a job, I do it well. I got steady hands, yes, as good photograhers usually are. Apparently you don’t understand the job of a journalist. You might want to check wikipedia for that. You can say your piece, thank you very much, but you don’t need to repeat it a zillion times, cluttering the Internet with your junk. Decent people can understand a sentence or paragraph by reading it once, no need for vandals like you to force your views upon us by throwing garbage everywhere. So sorry if I had to delete the rest of your gazillion-minus-one comments. I respect your opinion, that’s why I left a copy, coz that’s what it takes for us to understand what you meant. And yes, the world needs peacemakers, but not COWARDS like you who can’t stand up to the world to make his opinion known, that such opinion is his. And hey, if you noticed, I’m not the one who killed those suspected criminals, so don’t bark up the wrong tree. If you’re brave enough, go to the MILF and declare your displeasure in front of them, or go to their website. Or at least leave your name and email when you say your piece. Maybe you don’t know how to Google, so I’ll provide you the link -- www.luwaran.com. But I can see you’re a SISSY, not man enough to own his words. And, oh, apparently you’re those two other “Guests” below your last recent post. So it means you’re a ghost now, already dead, coz you said “come to mindanao and you will be shot like this...” You must have already been shot long ago. Oh, I must be crazy talking to a ghost.

Guest		08-Jan-2009 05:24
This is barbaric. I wonder how you could keep a steady hand doing this shots. A spectator's crowed watching in excitement the killing of fellow human being. Whatever they are guilty of, no one on earth has the right to kill another human, no one. I am accusing you Bobby to post this pictures commenting it's cruelty. Instead your comments which you have put below the pictures are sign of a cold-blooded language. Sentence served! If you and I have in common to make this world a better place, than we are certainly walking into opposite directions. I am in favour of free speech and I am against censorship. But I am also against cruelty and cold-blooded people who find their enjoyment in watching others being killed.

Guest		08-Jan-2009 05:22
mindanao is no longer a land of promise, but a land of death...

Guest		08-Jan-2009 05:21
come to mindanao and you will be shot like this...

rose		13-Aug-2008 07:02
unequal punishment is forbidden by god,humans are sacred,no one allowed to hurt anybody even to kill...

stranger		24-Aug-2007 00:52
I just could not believe that this happen in mindanao I'm a filipino but with this type of image showed here makes me feel unsafe to visit this side of my country. Anyway we didn't know the true story of what this two did but they have found guilty so sorry for them. The way this two die was so Barbaric I really hate to see it. May God forgive their soul.....

Guest		21-May-2007 03:30
i posted a comment yesterday. i wonder why twas deleted. peace.

krasyonarsk		20-May-2007 05:00
goosebumps. never heard of this firing squad, perhaps because i was just a kid then. thanks to Mr. Timonera, i felt the need to read more on Shariah Law. anyway, next time, try going to Sulu and get an image of the random killings allegedly done by the military against Tausug Muslims.. especially this time, killing here and there accusing people to be members of the abu sayyaf group and all that shit. that's more of a photojourn material. thank you and goodluck to your endeavor.

Al		19-Feb-2007 09:48
Sir, I didn't like the photos. They were punished to death under Shariah Law. According to Mr. Timonera it was his job to take these photos for publicity, but, here in Saudi Arabia, have you ever seen in any websites or newspapers a person who is going to be sentenced to death publicized? Of course not, may be it's against the law? Of course they deserved to be punished but I hope these photos should be kept for MILF's file. More comments to follow... Al, KSA

pat		27-Jan-2006 12:18
hi bob. 1st time i saw these complete pix of the firing squad. u didnt show it 2 me even when we're there working in your house. anyway, would just like to comment on some of the comments if i be allowed. sirs, im from the landofpromise, born and raised here just like bob. one thing i can say is please try to visit mindanao first. then after you have visited our place and experience our hospitality, then you can make comments about us. as a friend of bob, it would also hurt me as a resident when you discribe a person on his work about his place and judge him without first seeing the place nor understanding the culture of its people. i have no grudge to any of you guys. its just that it would be a bit better if we try to make more sensible comments...bobby did not want to take the pictures. he was asked by the milf to take the photos for publicity. if cnn was ask to shoot the scene, i think they would not have hesitated and took the next flight to mindanao to cover it then showed it to the world live. one thing too, as a photojournalist, bob is not in the position to choose because he is a committed person who does his job well. its just that he is one damned good photographer that even the milf honored so they chose him to shoot the event. i hope that i have made my comments clearly to be understood. thanks bob and peace to all of you guys. note : bob, please feel free to edit this.

Bobby Timonera		04-Jan-2006 12:53
Victor, go check the other photos here, and in thelandofpromise.com and photos.ph/timonera, and find out for yourself how much effort I've placed on taking pictures of everything good about Mindanao, my homeland, where I was born, raised, now live, and intend to live until I die. Google my name and find out, too, the things I've written about this beautiful place. But to totally ignore Mindanao's bad side, for me as a journalist, is just not right. It's like censorship, withholding information, and I just don't believe in that. As they say, the truth shall set us free. Suppressing the truth, as in these ugly photographs here which are very much real in Mindanao, will have catastrophic effect later. I suppose you know how the Philippie media was during the Marcos years. To be a "good journalist" is to present all sides. To show only the "good side" when there are bad things happening (albeit rarely and in far-flung areas) isn't journalism at all. We journalists call it "praise release." We'd even suspect you're receiving envelopes from some folks.

Victor		04-Jan-2006 05:56
I completely loathe these pictures. Yeah, I agree with Rudi. These pictures are barbaric and very appalling. This paints a very stark image of Mindanao. Instead of advocating for genuine Mindanao peace, you are in effect sending a wrong signal. There are tremendous sites in Mindanao that might be a lot in consonance with every Mindanawon thrust of propagating peace and brandishing its impeccable flora and fauna. Why not train your lenses into these innate "positive" qualities of Mindanao so that your journalistic skill will be placed to good use.

Paul Teixeira		09-Oct-2005 11:40
Excellent work here. Sad occasion, but that's life for ya. Best regards, Paul Teixeira

Bobby Timonera		26-Aug-2005 07:35
Apologies accepted, Rudi. Next time, try to visit Mindanao. I write and photograph its good and bad sides, but I'd say Mindanao is more good than bad. Otherwise, I wouldn't have brought my entire family here when me and my wife had promising careers in Manila.

Blas Aguila		26-Aug-2005 00:50
This is great work Bobby! People from other countries do not really know the situation in Mindanao. All they perceive is what they see on CNN, et al. But you are right there, risking it all. Justice is swift and precise for the MILF's Shariah, maybe it good or bad, but its only opinion. Again great work Bobby, a real eyeopener.

Nathaniel Salang		25-Aug-2005 18:00
Had I not read Rudi's apology, I would have gone on to rant about his failure to understand photojournalism. It is only by the courage of people like Bobby that the world could find out how truly barbaric people can be... the people who killed millions of Jews, the people who annihilate their own countrymen in the name of ethnic cleansing. etc etc etc. Keep shooting, Bob! I admire your courge. Nathaniel Salang

Guest		25-Aug-2005 17:30
Okay Bobby, I seems that I had done a wrong judgement. I hope you accept my sincere appology. I am shocked by the images, no question about that. It is nice to hear that you are not in support of the happening shown here and that you in fact are a peaceful man and a loving husband and father. It is up to you, if you let my comments stay or if you want to delete them. I have been married two Filipinas twice since 1975 and I had been in the Philippines for several years, but I have never seen Mindanao. Lets have peace and I reach out my hand to you.

Bobby Timonera		25-Aug-2005 14:14
What's your problem, Rudi? What kind of twisted logic do you have? I din't say those photos are art. I didn't shoot those people, and I didn't tell the MILF to shoot them. You don't know a thing about Mindanao. You don't know a thing about me. I just happened to be a journalist, and write and photograph events I come across, good or bad. If you don't know what a journalist is, try dictionary.com. Why don't you write hate letters to CNN and your most hated news agencies? If you get to meet people who know me, I'm sure they'll tell you I'm a loving husband, a caring father, and someone who hates guns, who's for a gunless society. The way you write, I don't wanna be near you, coz maybe you'd want to kill me with your bare hands.

Guest		21-Aug-2005 17:23
Actually those kind of pictures one can see on tv almost every day (CNN, etc.). My complain is only. Why you are psoting those images without distancing yourself of what is happening in the scene. My conclusion is, that ... ... you might be in favour of it ... or, since you are living in Mindanao, you can't tell the truth, without fearing to be killed yourself by the MILF. But from the way you have described your own images it suggest's that you do not oppose the killings.

Guest		21-Aug-2005 16:30
If you think those photos are some kind of art from a photographers point of view, than you are dam wrong. You are just trying to gain some fame out of this sad happenings.

Guest		21-Aug-2005 16:24
This is barbaric. I wonder how you could keep a steady hand doing this shots. A spectator's crowed watching in excitement the killing of fellow human being. Whatever they are guilty of, no one on earth has the right to kill another human, no one. I am accusing you Bobby to post this pictures commenting it's cruelty. Instead your comments which you have put below the pictures are sign of a cold-blooded language. Sentence served! If you and I have in common to make this world a better place, than we are certainly walking into opposite directions. I am in favour of free speech and I am against censorship. But I am also against cruelty and cold-blooded people who find their enjoyment in watching others being killed.

nathan_amores		25-Aug-2004 06:00
"Yes, I know Bobby - he is my friend!" I exclaimed when my Indian co-worker showed me your site. I was in Dubai that time and we have just finished talking about the Shariah Laws and how it is carried out. The picture may be gross for others, but it clearly shows how the law works in some countries. Good work Bobby! it take more than raw courage and guts to publish such "sensitive" work in the Philippines.

Big Al		14-Jul-2004 17:09
These photos, no matter how gruesome, should be posted to educate the world of how some cultures still embrace a cruel way of punishment. To keep them out of sight is to ignore the fact that the modern world still has a dark side to overcome. We can pray though, that someday these people will change their ways. Thanks again Bob for being objective.

Bobby Timonera		25-May-2004 13:11
Humphrey, you are entitled to your own opinion. Sorry to disappoint you but I don't believe in censoring images nor free speech. :-)

Digital Rebel		25-May-2004 06:45
I know you will delete this comment, but all I can say is shame on you for posting these pictures.

Guest		14-May-2004 17:46
This group of photos shocked me!

Rudi		19-Mar-2004 11:50
Killing is the worst of crimes. Any authority (if government or self-imposed authority) who implements death penalty reduces itselve down to a level of an ordinary murderer. I feel ashamed for the crowd watching the "spectacle" for getting some kind of sensation. It is very sad.

Rudi		19-Mar-2004 11:50
Killing is the worst of crimes. Any authority (if government or self-imposed authority) who impements death penalty reduces itselve down to a level of an ordinary murderer. I feel ashamed for the crowd watching the "spectacle" for getting some kind of sensation. It is very sad.

Dante		05-Aug-2003 05:45
Hello Bob, I saw these pics when Inquirer ran them. Great work. Not just for this, but for your other photos as well. The waterfalls series and other Mindanao pics are all fantastic. Hope to meet you at one of the ph photo EBs. Dante

Bikya		25-Sep-2002 04:49
Dear Bob, this is the first time i've seen your gallery and this spread really gave me goosebumps Sharia justice hits you straight in the eye, esp. the pic of the guy that was hit on the arm sort of pierced my illusion of complacency (so poetic!). anyways, Bob one thing for sure, you are destined for greatness! and i'm saying this because you are my kumpadre, hahahahahahahahahaha! seriously, you've come a long way. Way to go!!!!! your friend-trying-hard-to-learn-the-intricacies-of-the-digitalcamera, BIKYA

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