NPA denies links to Sagay massacre
BACOLOD CITY – The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the Apolinario Gatmaitan Command of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Negros Island denounced the claims of Malacañang and the Philippine National Police (PNP) that the NPA is behind the massacre in Hacienda Nene in Sagay City.
In a press statement, the CPP denounced Duterte and his officials for “twisting facts and sowing disinformation to confuse the public and conceal the responsibility of the military and police-backed private armies and paramilitary groups behind the Sagay massacre, and the spate of killings against peasant leaders in Negros island.”
The Apolinario Gatmaitan described the top officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the PNP as “heinous murderers, heinous liars,” for blaming the Sagay massacre on the NPA.
CPP said it is Duterte himself who is culpable for having spread contempt for human rights and incited the AFP and PNP to commit widespread violence against the people under Oplan Kapayapaan.
“The NPA is a largely peasant army that wages a people's war to advance their democratic demand for land reform. It will never put the peasant masses and people in harm’s way,” the statement said.
In a separate statement, the Apolinario Gatmaitan alleged that the culprits are in fact under the command of the AFP’s SCAA unit stationed in Hacienda Mirasol, Sagay City, about two kilometers from the massacre site.
“The heinous lies being peddled by the PNP and the AFP serve not only to exonerate the landlords and their goons but also to further prop up the state’s current attempts to discredit the revolutionary movement and the people’s legitimate calls to end the rotten US-Duterte regime,” it said.
The Movement Against Tyranny also issued a statement denouncing the efforts of the Duterte regime to “spin” the facts surrounding the October 20 massacre and highlighting the urgent need for a congressional investigation.
The MAT also urged the Commission on Human Rights to work closely with people’s organizations in tapping independent experts for its own inquiry
Also on Wednesday, Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones said the group that entered Hacienda Nene that led to the killing of nine people had no legal basis to occupy the plantation.
Castriciones said that before the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program became a law, the 76-hectare hacienda was donated to 25 persons, so it is no longer “CARPable.”
The occupation of the property Saturday by the group led by the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) was a violation of the law, he said. Still, he condemned the killings as “definitely unlawful and contrary to the position of our administration.”
Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. blamed the NFSW for the massacre, saying it sent the victims to occupy Hacienda Nene on Saturday even if they had no Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs).
He said the group had planned the occupation, adding “They were the ones who did that, they are the ones to blame.”
On Monday, NFSW said that the camping of the killed farmers at Nene is part of organization's program called “Bungkalan” or Land Cultivation Area in response to resonate their campaign for the genuine agrarian reform and free land distribution.
Bungkalan reflects the “failure of the government’s land reform program and the landlords’ refusal to distribute land to the tillers,” NFSW Chair Rolando Rillo said.