Palace vows 'full wrath of law' vs Sagay gunmen

MALACAÑANG has vowed to bring the perpetrators of the Sagay massacre to justice and impose the "full wrath of the law" upon them.

Police have yet to make arrests in connection with the shooting incident Saturday night, October 20, that killed nine members, including two minors, of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) in Sagay City, Negros Occidental.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said President Rodrigo Duterte's office "adheres to the principle that the right to life shall remain unthreatened by proprietary interests, and this extends to agrarian settings."

"The Palace is deeply perturbed to learn about the incident and the Philippine National Police has already been ordered to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation on this dastardly act," Panelo said.

"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," he added.

The Palace condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the killing of the nine NFSW members who took part in "Bungkalan", a land cultivation campaign wherein the group occupies idle properties that are covered by the agrarian reform program but have remained undistributed to the farmers.

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms the reported deaths of sugar workers in Sagay City, Negros Occidental," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement on Sunday night, October 21.

Nine sugarcane workers, including women and minors, were reportedly resting in makeshift tents in Hacienda Nene in Sagay City when they were shot by a group of unidentified armed men on Saturday night, October 20.

The fatalities were identified as Eglicerio Villegas, Anelife Arsenal, Dogong Laurencio, Nec Nec Dumaguit, Bingbing Bantigue, Marchel Sumikad, Jomarie Ughayon Jr., Morena Mendoza, and a certain "Pater."