Palace condemns killing of 9 Negros sugar workers

The Palace on Sunday condemned the killing of nine members of the Negros Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) in Sagay City, characterizing the bloodshed as "dastardly" and "extremely cruel."

"The Palace is deeply perturbed to learn about the incident and the Philippine National Police (PNP) has already been ordered to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation on this dastardly act," Presidential Spokesperson and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

Panelo added that the Office of the President adhered to the principle that the right to life should remain unthreatened by proprietary interests, and this principle extended to agrarian settings.

"Families of the victims of this extremely cruel act can count on the government that it will enforce the full wrath of the law against its perpetrators," the spokesperson promised.

According to police investigators, forty armed men shot and killed the workers as they rested at the Hacienda Nene in Purok Firetree.

Police Superintendent Joem Malong, spokesperson of the Western Visayas regional police, said the shooting occurred at about 9:45 p.m. Saturday.

The victims were members of the NFSW, Malong said.

They were identified by Malong as:

1. Eglicerio Villegas, 36, resident of Barangay Bulanon
2. Angelipe Arsenal, resident of Barangay Bulanon
3. Alias Pater, resident of Barangay Plaridel, Sagay City
4. Alias Dodong Laurencio, resident of Barangay Plaridel
5. Alias Morena Mendoza, resident of Barangay Bulanon
6. Alias Necnec Dumaguit
7. Alias Bingbing Bantigue, resident of Barangay Plaridel
8. Alias Jomarie Ughayon Jr., 17, resident of Purok Cesco, Barangay Rafaela Barrera, Sagay City
9. Marchtel Sumicad, 17, resident of Purok Mahogany, Barangay Bulanon.

The workers allegedly occupied an agricultural farm in Hacienda Nene a day after the owner of the farm harvested sugar cane.

Three of the workers who died were allegedly burned by the suspects.

Bayan Muna chairman and former Representative Neri Colmenares on Sunday held the Duterte administration and the military responsible for the murder.

In a statement, Colmenares said that the military had earlier alleged that land cultivation areas (LCAs) being maintained by agricultural sugar workers and farmers in Negros were actually New People’s Army's (NPA) communal farms.

"That is really absurd because the issue of land is a legitimate issue. This is an attempt of the Duterte government to quell any form of protest by criminalizing legitimate demands," he said.

"We demand an immediate impartial probe on this massacre and we will not stop until justice has been served," Colmenares said.

Human rights group Karapatan also condemned the killing.

"Karapatan strongly condemns this brutal and brazen incident, reflective of a kind of system that further strangles the victims of landlessness and poverty," the group said in a statement on Sunday.

"We call on the Commission on Human Rights to conduct an independent and thorough investigation on the massacre. We are one with the kin of the victims in the Sagay massacre in their call for justice," the group said.

Meanwhile, Anakbayan Cebu, which said the members of the NFSW were killed during a "bungkalan," placed the blame on the government.

"Anakbayan Cebu vehemently condemns the fascist and terrorist acts of the Duterte regime towards the tillers of the land who are constantly victimized by his ferocious all-out war," the group said in a post on Twitter on Sunday. —DVM/KG, GMA News