THE National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) said that gunshot wounds killed the farmers who were part of a protest in Kidapawan national highway on April 1.
NUPL assistant secretary for legal services Ephraim Cortez said the report was based on the findings of forensic pathologist Racquel Fortun who conducted an independent examination on the bodies of farmer Darwin Sulang and Enrico Fabilgar.
Based on Sulang’s death certificate, he died due to blunt trauma in the forehead, while Fabrigar died of heat stroke.
Fortun said in the autopsy report that Sulang suffered a single perforating gunshot wound almost in the middle of the forehead, which exited at the top back of the head, while Fabilgar died of gunshot wound in his trunk.
Fortun’s report will be included in the report of human rights group, Karapatan, who is set to attend the continuation of the inquiry on the bloody incident before the Senate committee on justice April 20.
The Kidapawan farmers conducted a five-day protest starting on April 28 where they blocked the Kidapawan national highway reportedly to ask the government for sacks of rice as they and their family were already experiencing hunger due to the effects of drought in the region.
The picket did not end well as the anti-riot police and the protesters clashed that resulted in the killing of three individuals.
Police said as to where the bullet which killed the victims came from is still under investigation.
PNP spokesperson Wilben Mayor has said one of the three farmers tested positive in the paraffin tests and that the Scene of the Crime Operatives team recovered two empty shells of calibre .45 at the area occupied by the rallyists and a deformed slug of calibre .38 at a makeshift station occupied by the police responders. (Sunnex)