THE Commission on Human Rights still cannot locate the survivors of the Himamaylan massacre on June 14.
Vincent Parra, CHR-Negros Occidental officer-in-charge, said Tuesday, July 11, that based on their investigation last week, they could not locate yet the whereabouts of Emily Fausto Hermino and her three other siblings.
Emily was the one who reported to the Himamaylan Police Station the killing of her parents Rolly and Emilda Fausto and her two other minor siblings.
The local CHR head said that even Barangay Buenavista officials have no knowledge of Emily's whereabouts including her two brothers and a sister.
Parra, meanwhile, said their ongoing investigation on the massacre of the Fausto family is facing challenges as the Himamayayan City police have not provided the agency with complete documentation.
He said that the Himamaylan City police station has only provided them with a copy of the spot report and nothing more.
"They did not give me the status of their investigation and statements of the witnesses," Parra said.
He added that while they gave the CHR a report in compliance with their request, "they did not give copies of other documents that will help us establish who are the perpetrators."
"There seems to be a refusal on the part of the Himamaylan police to hand in the documents we requested," Parra pointed out.
Parra admitted that the situation is "a hindrance on their own investigation as we are having difficulty in obtaining the documents."
"We will just wait for the filing of the case and request copies of the documents from the Department of Justice," he said.
Asked if the Himamaylan police were uncooperative, Parra clarified that he understands being a fellow investigator himself, that the police are still doing their case buildup.
"There seems to be hesitancy on the part of the police to provide copies of documents to other agencies without first submitting it to the proper agencies to appreciate their evidence," he also said.
He further said, "They told me that they are still waiting for the family but for me, they do not need to wait for any family member to personally file the case, because they are victims too. Why wait for Emily's participation when they can just file it themselves?"
He said the offended party in these types of cases is not just the offended party but also the state itself.*