Defend Negros: Duterte regime whitewashed Sagay Massacre

Defend Negros: Duterte regime whitewashed Sagay Massacre

Editorial Cartoo by Neil Doloricon

The Defend Negros #stoptheattacks today claimed that the Duterte regime eventually whitewashed the Sagay massacre by charging two survivors for the carnage and blaming the incident on the rebels.

According to Ariel “Ka Ayik” Casilao, Defend Negros spokesperson, the Duterte regime has no qualms in distorting the facts of the perpetrators of the Sagay massacre, because his government wants to ensure that no more Land Cultivation Areas (LCAs) will flourish in Negros Island.

The massacre occurred exactly two years ago on October 20, 2018.

Other than that, added Ayik, it seemed that the Sagay massacre was the signal for state military and police officers including their death squads to accelerate more extra judicial killings and other human rights violations on the Island. Especially after Negros was put under Memorandum Order (MO) # 32 or in a state of lawlessness which is still in effect up to now.

The DOJ filed murder charges earlier this year against National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) members Rene Manlangit and Rogelio Arquillo for the Sagay massacre. Both were also survivors of the dastardly act and had close relatives who died during the carnage.  Arrest warrants have been issued against them.

In addition to this, the DOJ also denied the motion for reconsideration of the complaint filed by the mother of a minor who also survived the massacre for lack of merit.

The mother filed a case of child abuse against several police officers assigned in Sagay during that time because of irregularities and attempts at whitewashing evidence and twisting facts to muddle the identification of the persons responsible for the gruesome crime that claimed the lives of 9 farmers, including that of two minors.

What would you expect when the President himself told state forces on October 29, 2018 to arrest groups occupying idle lands and to shoot those who resist violently?

The Sagay massacre would be the equivalent of the Escalante massacre which occurred also in Negros in 1985 during the US-Marcos dictatorship. There was also no justice provided to the victims of the latter.

But eventually the people ousted the US-Marcos dictatorship. It seems this is also the only way to achieve justice for the victims of the Sagay massacre.

(PRESS RELEASE)