Sagay massacre, ambush of troops prompted deployment of more troops —Palace

The massacre of nine sugarcane farmers in Sagay, Negros Occidental and the killing and ambush of uniformed personnel were among the incidents that prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to deploy more troops to quell “lawless violence” in some parts of the country, Malacañang said Friday.

Acting on the President’s order, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea issued Memorandum Order 32 directing the deployment of additional soldiers and policemen to suppress “lawless violence and acts of terror” in the provinces of Samar, Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental and the Bicol region and “prevent such violence from spreading and escalating elsewhere in the country.”

In a statement, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the Palace “views with concern” the “growing number of sporadic acts of violence” which the government attributed to lawless groups in those areas.

“In the past months, a wave of lawless violence occurred in the aforesaid places with the entire nation watching or hearing in horror the killing and ambush of uniformed personnel, attacks on police stations, torching and destruction of equipment, massacre of civilians, and murders of local officials,” he said.

Panelo cited the ambush of soldiers providing relief to victims of a typhoon in Northern Samar, armed attack at the police station in Lapinig, ambush attack against the 63rd Infantry Battalion in Matuguinao and the October 8 ambush by New People’s Army members that killed Ananias Rebato, former mayor of San Jose de Buan town.

The incidents in Negros Oriental included torching of heavy equipment in Manjuyod town, strafing of the house of a barangay chairman, attack of police detachments,

and the killing of a police chief in Guihulngan town.

In Bicol, Panelo cited the ambush of the convoy of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director-General Nela Charade Puno in Lupi, Camarines Sur on October 18, and firefights in Lagonoy and Bato towns also in Camarines Sur, among other incidents.

In Negros Occidental, the government mentioned the deadly attack against the 62nd Infantry Battalion while conducting clearing and combat operations in preparation for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in Kabankalan City in May and the massacre of nine farmers in Sagay on October 20.

Duterte earlier tagged the communist rebels in the killing of sugar farmers, saying it was the “style” of the NPA to kill their own members and put the blame on the government.

The President gave the statement on October 31 after the Communist Party of the Philippines said the farmers, all members of National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW), were killed by paramilitary forces "financed by big Negros landlords and attached to the Philippine Army."

Negros Occidental Regional Police Office head Chief Superintendent John Bulalacao had said the farmers were recruited into the NFSW on a false promise that they will be given a share of Hacienda Nene in Barangay Bulanon if the group succeeds in occupying the land under the so-called Oplan Bungkalan Okupasyon.

Panelo, in a television interview, responded to observations that the memorandum was a move to push for nationwide martial law, a measure Duterte rejected anew on Thursday.

Martial rule is presently limited to the entire Mindanao. It will expire next month unless Duterte asked for another extension from Congress.

“They [people of Mindanao] are not complaining. In fact, there had been no reported abuses from the military. This is a different martial law. It’s strictly enforcing the law against lawless violence, against acts of terrorism,” Panelo told ANC.

Asked if the people should be worried about the deployment of additional uniformed personnel in the areas covered by the order, Panelo said: “Why should they be worried in the first place? They are precisely being placed there for their own security.”

Panelo also said “if there are acts of violence and act of terrorism in other areas then certainly that order will have to be implemented.”

Apart from deployment of more soldiers and policemen, the memorandum also directed the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police and the Department of Justice to intensify local and transnational intelligence operations against those suspected of or responsible for committing acts of lawless violence.

They shall also coordinate with other agencies in investigating and prosecuting those apprehended for such crimes.

All local government units are enjoined to fully support and cooperate in the memorandum’s implementation.

Civil and political rights, as well as all existing rules and applicable jurisprudence during a state of national emergency, shall remain observed by agents of the AFP and PNP.

“All these measures are being undertaken pursuant to the constitutional command to the President to serve and protect the people,” Panelo said. —NB, GMA News