Wednesday, March 07, 2007 Doc says TF Mapalad members suffer no gunshot wound By Erwin Ambo S. Delilan
THE Municipal Health Officer of La Castellana town said injuries suffered by members of Task Force Mapalad in Hacienda Velez-Malaga in La Castellana is not caused by gunshot.
Rey Cortejo and Fernando Santillan, members of Task Force Mapalad were reported injured after the blue guards of hacienda owner Roberto Cuenca allegedly shot them on January 24.
Santillan's 65-year-old father, Pepito, was killed the next day by still unidentified suspects.
However, Dr. Nenita Rodriquez-Sol, Municipal Health Officer of La Castellana, said Tuesday that both Cortejo and Santillan did not have any gunshot wounds.
In a phone interview, Sol said Sun.Star Cortejo and Santillan only had abrasions and swelling of their left arms.
"I haven't found any gunshot wounds on their bodies," Sol said, adding that both also failed to secure medical certificate from her office.
Asked what probably caused the abrasions of the duo, Sol said, "They might have stumbled and bumped on hard objects."
But during a TFM rally in Bacolod on January 25, the group presented Cortejo and Santillan to the media with bandage-wrapped hands and shoulders.
TF Mapalad claimed that the blue guards of Cuenca family shot the two.
Romulo Espinosa, acting as spokesperson/organizer of Hacienda Malaga-Cuenca Multi-Purpose Cooperative and Malaga Independent Workers' Union, said TFM is an "expert" in propaganda.
"We don't know why TFM can afford to have national propagandas that are all basically programmed," Espinosa said in Hiligaynon.
He added that TF Mapalad is also well versed in media press and photo releases, adding that "TFM also knows when and where to position for better stories...but all are basically manufactured stories."
Negros Occidental Police Director Rosendo Franco also shared the same view.
Franco said the Task Force always blame them for alleged inaction when in fact, "we don't even know their action on when and where they are going to strike."
"Usually, we only learn later that a violence has already erupted in a certain area because TFM made a self-installation of its farmer-beneficiaries," Franco lamented, citing the case in Velez-Malaga on January 24 and 25 wherein one was killed and four were injured.
