Farmers' group questions NBI probe on Sagay massacre

The National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) on Tuesday questioned the National Bureau of Investigation's (NBI) probe into the massacre of nine of its members in Sagay City, Negros Occidental, last month.

The federation asked if the "deeper" investigation ordered by Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra into the incident is "geared to bolster" the administration's claim that the killing was a communist plot to oust President Rodrigo Duterte.

It also cited Guevarra's reported statement that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will be "relentless" in pursuing a terrorist tag for the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army before a Manila court.

"Would the DOJ then include the NFSW in the proscription list if the NBI tags the NPA  as the perpetrators of the Sagay massacre or even Atty. Ben Ramos?" the group asked, referring to the farmers' lawyer, who was killed in an ambush last week.

"If that is the case, we suggest that the DOJ secretary just pull out the NBI in Negros Island and just parrot what his tyrannical boss and his military and police officials want the people to believe to be the perpetrators of the Sagay massacre and the killers of Atty. Ben," it said.

Sought for comment, Guevarra said: "The NBI investigation is still ongoing and we'll go by what the evidence will show."

The NBI stepped into investigation efforts of the massacre on October 23, but Guevarra said weeks later that a progress report by the bureau contained "no clear indication as to who perpetrated the crime," prompting him to order a "deeper" probe.

Initial police findings on the incident purportedly showed the victims, who include four women and two minors, had occupied the agricultural farm in Hacienda Nene a day after the farm owner harvested sugarcane.

The farmers were reportedly resting when "more or less 40 unidentified armed men" fired upon them on the evening of October 20. Some of them were reportedly burned.

Malacañang and the Philippine National Police had earlier pointed to the NPA as the perpetrators of the crime. The Armed Forces, for its part, alleged that the incident is part of the communists' plot to "rouse civil unrest and discredit the government."

Survivors deny that their group, the NFSW, is a front of the armed rebel organization. —KBK, GMA News