The National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW), labor organizations and human rights advocacy groups on Wednesday, October 24, started their joint fact-finding investigation on the massacre of nine farmers in Sagay City, Negros Occidental.
Karapatan, a human rights advocacy group, named the initiative — National Fact-Finding Mission (NFFM) — which delves into the facts of the actual incident and “the context that led to it.”
“This independent investigation of people’s organizations and human rights groups will delve deeply into the root causes of poverty and agrarian unrest in Hacienda Nene and the overall situation of peasants and farmworkers in Negros – those that have plagued the island for years with the continuing feudal exploitation and oppression of peasants and the poor,” Karapatan said.
Karapatan also emphasized the ways to which they could guarantee that accountability will be sought as reported by The Philippine Star.
“The mission will likewise look into the role of state forces in addressing the climate of impunity that persists in Negros and other parts of the country where peasants are being persecuted and killed because of their advocacies and organizing work,” it added.
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura, Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, National Union of People’s Lawyers, Promotion for Church People’s Response, National Network of Agrarian Reform Advocates-Youth, Gabriela Women’s Party, Gabriela Youth, Salinlahi, Children’s Rehabilitation Center, Kabataan Party-list and Northern Negros Alliance of Human Rights Advocates were among the other groups joining the NFFM.
Karapatan said that their investigation would seek to counter any possible attempt by state forces to “whitewash” the incident and manipulate the story to their benefit.
“Numerous spectacular angles have been floated by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in their so-called investigation on the case. They allege that the leaders and organizers of the NFSW are those behind the massacre,” Karapatan claimed.
Another suspicion from the PNP noted that communist rebels intentionally created the unrest in order to have an incident that could be attributed as the government’s fault.
“In yet another disjointed angle, they say that the perpetrators are members of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA), purportedly using their ‘mass base’ to create untoward incidents which can be blamed on the government,” the group added.
“We view these statements by authorities as a prelude to other forms of whitewashing that are being employed to deny justice to the victims. These baseless statements serve as a diversion, thus enabling the perpetrators to evade accountability,” Karapatan added.
Unknown gunmen killed nine NFSW members who occupied part of Hacienda Nene in Barangay Bulanon, Sagay City.
