Albayalde: Justice will be served

MANILA - Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde yesterday said he directed the Police Regional Office-6 to get to the bottom of the killings of the nine farmers at Hacienda Nene in Sagay City as he assured the families of the victims that justice will be served to them.

He said the PNP has already the leads as to who are the perpetrators of the

said incident, as his men are continuously digging deeper into the cause of the incident.

He said the farmers were not legitimate members of the National Federation of Sugarcane Farmers. “We want to determine why they were there? Who told or brought them there? Unfortunately, they were used as baits by the culprits for their own vested interest.”

The probers are already doing its job to get into the bottom of this incident, he added.

The nine farmers who were slain on October 20 were Eglicerio Villegas, 36; Angelife Arsenal, 47; Paterno Baron, 48; Rene Laurencio, Sr., 52; Morena Mendoza, 49; Marcelina Dumaguit, 66; Rannel Bantigue, 16; Jomarie Ogahayon, 16 and Marchtel Sumikad, 17.

The victims occupied the land a day after the landowner Carmen Tolentino harvested their sugarcane.

On Tuesday, President Rodrigo Duterte was expected to visit the wake of the nine farmers but due to a bad weather, he cancelled his trip to Sagay City.

He is expected to come back as reported.*