Authorities turn over Sagay survivor to family

(Contributed photo)
(Contributed photo)

THE young survivor in the brutal killing of nine sugarcane farm workers on October 20 in Sagay City, Negros Occidental was released to his mother past 4 p.m. Thursday, October 25.

Karapatan-Negros secretary-general Clarizza Singson said the 14-year-old boy was turned over to his mother by the City Social Welfare and Development Office through the assistance of National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) member lawyer Kathy Panguban.

Panguban took part in a fact-finding mission with several cause-oriented groups on the brutal killing of members of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) on October 20.

The NFSW earlier issued an alert that the survivor was “illegally arrested” by police which they denied. Police said the minor was placed under custody for security reasons.

READ: Cops say minor-survivor under custody for security

The minor is considered a prime witness in the brutal killings.

The human rights group claimed the police custody of the child was “harassment” and had the sanction of a local official.

“This brazen violation of the right of the child to be in the care of his loved ones exposes the local government's desperate attempt to cover up its failure to arrest the perpetrators,” Singson said.

She accused the police and military of a “desperate attempt to rekindle the ashes of the flopped Red October tale” by using the child in an attempt to pin the blame for the massacre on the NPA.

NFSW-Negros, in a statement, “heaves a sigh of relief as the 14-year old survivor of Sagay massacre is finally under the custody of his mother.”

NFSW secretary-general John Milton Lozande said taking custody of the child was “completely abhorrent.”

“It is completely abhorrent how the Philippine National Police (PNP), in its desperate attempt, to supplant their Red October fantasy subjected a poor child under scrutiny right after witnessing the massacre of his friends and almost getting killed himself," Lozande said.

He added that the prime motive of keeping the child into their custody was “to interrogate him (child) while still recovering from trauma.”

Chief Superintendent John Bulalacao, director of the Police Regional Office (PRO)–Western Visayas, earlier tagged the NPA as suspects in the killing.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo, PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde, and Armed Forces chief of staff Carlito Galvez also believed that NFSW is a “front organization” of the communist rebels.

But, the NFSW and human rights groups dismissed the allegations, claiming that the perpetrators were most likely: a) private security personnel of the landowner or lessee of the plantation; or b) members of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army, a break-away armed group of the New People’s Army.

Meanwhile, Michael de la Concepcion, secretary-general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)–Negros, urged the authorities to stop the malicious-blaming on the farmer-victims.

Amid the “tiempo muerto,” or the dead season for sugarcane plantations, sugar workers seek food security by planting food crops. During this period, plantation workers barely have work or do not. Because of the dead season their pay is also low.

De la Concepcion said it is unfortunate that the farmers who are already in dismal conditions were instead “buried on the ground.”

He also criticized government assertions tagging the communists as perpetrators while conveniently linking this to the supposed ouster plot against the Duterte administration.

De la Concepcion said the victim-blaming and red-tagging only absolves the culpability of others. He said said lessor and the landlord have been quiet on the issue and “comforted behind the apparent protection from the local government, while the peasant community experiences state-inspired harassment.”

The Sagay massacre is the third incident of extra-judicial killing in the city under the Duterte administration, he said.

“Rather than taking the moral high-ground on accounting responsible investigation to the bloody massacre, the government so foolishly resorted to victim-blaming,” he added.

No martial law

Meanwhile, the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office (Nocppo) assured the public that martial law was not declared in northern Negros.

In a press statement, Nocppo said troops were sent to the area to avoid further escalation of violence and to keep its peace and order.

De la Concepcion said residents reported that troops are already camping out in the sugargane plantation near the area of the incident.

“Some are just trying to disrupt the investigation. They see the collaboration of the police and military as a threat to their goal that is why they are spreading fake news to scare the public,” it said.

They are turning the table in order to ruin the joint forces and for the government to take the blame of the shooting incident in Sagay, it also said.

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