DAR chief clears AFP, PNP in killing of 9 Sagay sugar farmers

Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary John Castriciones on Monday clarified that the country’s security personnel have no involvement on the killing of nine sugarcane farmers in Sagay, Negros Occidental, over the weekend.

"First of all I would like to make it clear that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) do not have any involvement at all in this incident," Castriciones said at a press briefing.

Castriciones denounced the deadly incident against the Negros Federation of Sugarcane Workers (NFSW) farmers.

"I strongly condemn the killing of nine sugarcane workers in Hacienda Nene in Sagay City, Negros Occidental," Castriciones said in a statement.

"The DAR has always pushed for the peaceful resolution of land disputes between landowners and farmers through dialogues and mediation meetings."

At the same briefing, Castriciones announced the formation of a task force to look into the incident.

"I have created a special task force to look into the matter so that we will be able to get to the bottom of this," Castriciones said.

"Likewise, I have coordinated the matter with Director [General Oscar] Albayalde of the Philippine National Police and we had our conversation regarding this matter," he added.

The task force will be comprised of DAR officials as well as implementing agencies of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

An initial investigation bared that some armed men killed nine members of the NSFW as they rested at the Hacienda Nene in Purok Firetree.

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

Bayan Muna chairman and former Representative Neri Colmenares blamed the Duterte administration as well as the military for the incident.

Colmenares said government forces had claimed that cultivation areas being maintained by agricultural sugar farmers in the province were New People's Army's (NPA) communal farms.

Human rights group Karapatan, on the other hand, noted that the incident had depicted a "kind of system that further strangles the victims of landlessness and poverty."

The Duterte administration denounced the killing as it had deemed the incident as “extremely cruel.” —KBK/RSJ, GMA News