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CARNAGE AT SUCAR FARM This tent set in the middle of Hacienda Nene in Barangay Bulanon, in the town of Sagay, was the scene of a bloodbath on Saturday night, October 20, when unidentified gunmen killed nine farmers who occupied the sugar farm to plant vegetables. . (Photo by BRYAN MORDEN)
Updated at 12:06 pm on October 22, 2018
Philippine National Police charges communist rebels for killing nine farmers in Sagay town Saturday, but parliamentary activists suspect military and militia forces of being behind Attack in the province of Negros Occidental.
Chief Inspector. John Bulalacao, director of the Western Visayas police, said in a statement on Sunday that the elite forces were pursuing the killers, who may be members of the New Communist People's Army (NPA).
Bulalacao said that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the NPA, its armed wing, were conducting a plan "Oplan Bungkalan at Okupasyon", aimed at cultivating and occupying private and government lands using their "mass base".
But the militant Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives has called for an independent investigation, suggesting that the military and militia could be responsible for the killings.
"We demand an immediate and impartial investigation," said Bayan Muna's former representative Neri Colmenares on Sunday.
"We will not stop until justice is done," said Colmenares.
Condemned murders
Nine farmers, including three women and two miners, were killed.
They were identified as Eglicerio Cambannga Villegas, 36 years old; Angeliffa Dumaguit Arsenal, 47 years old; Paterno Baroy, 48 years old; René Laurencio Sr .; Morena Mendoza, 48 years old; Marcelina Dumaguit; Rommel Bantigue, 41 years old; Jomarie Oghayon, 16, and Marchtel Sumicad, 17, all of Sagay.
Bulalacao said the victims were new recruits from the Negros Sugar Workers' Federation (NFSW).
NFSW condemned the murders. The task force said the victims were forced to plant vegetables and root crops to feed their families on loose land covered by the government's land reform program, but did not distribute it to farmers.
According to the police investigation, 14 members of the NFSW occupied part of Hacienda Nene, Purok Pine, Barangay Bulanon, Sagay, at 9.45 pm. the Saturday.
Investigators said that the sugar cane plantation was the subject of a land dispute.
The sugar cane of the plantation belonging to Carmen Tolentino had been harvested and farmers entered and pitched a tent, according to the Chief Superintendent. Rodolfo Castil, Director of the West Negros Police.
Five survivors of the attack
Castil said the farmers were resting in the tent on Saturday night when five or seven gunmen arrived and opened fire on them.
According to previous reports, the number of armed men was about 40.
Castil said that two of the farmers managed to escape during the shooting and that three others were not present during the attack.
The gunmen also burned the bodies of three of the farmers using sugarcane residues and gasoline, according to the chief inspector. Roberto Mansueto, police chief of the city of Sagay.
He added that two of the victims were armed and appeared to have fought the attackers.
Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. and his son, Mayor of Sagay, Alfredo Marañon III, condemned the murders and offered 500,000 Pakistani pesos for information to identify and arrest the murderers.
Military work?
Colmenares, originally from Negros Occidental, said Brig. General Eliezer Losañes, commander of the 303rd Infantry Brigade, had previously accused farmers involved in the system of cultivating land in the province to be members of the NPA.
"It's really absurd because the land issue is a legitimate question. This is an attempt by the Duterte government to suppress any form of protest by criminalizing legitimate claims, "said Colmenares.
Anakpawis' representative, Ariel Casilao, condemned the "barbaric and brutal killing" of farmers.
House probe
Casilao said the latest killings have brought to 45 the number of peasants to kill on the island of Negros since President Duterte came to power in June 2016.
Among those killed, he said, was Flora Jemola, president of the NFSW Sagay branch, a member of parliament.
He stated that Jemola had been stabbed by murderers suspected to be militiamen of the 12th Infantry Battalion of the Army on December 21, 2017.
Another NFSW leader, Ronald Manlanat, was killed by the same militiamen two months later, he said.
Casilao has announced that it will submit a resolution regarding an investigation into Saturday's killings in Sagay. -With a report from AP
/ cbb / pdi
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