Saturday, October 27, 2018

CSAFP Statement on Sagay Incident


CSAFP Statement on Sagay Incident

Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Carlito Galvez Jr in a Press Conference held Wednesday, 24 October 2018. (Photo by Cpl Joel Manzano PA/PAOAFP)

Initial Investigation

A thorough investigation is already on-going to establish the identities and motives of the perpetrators of the killing of farm workers in Sagay City, Negros Occidental on Saturday, October 21.

Various government agencies including the Philippine National Police (PNP), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) are jointly working in the investigation.

Results of the initial investigation laid out three possible scenarios that may have led to the incident. Authorities are looking at the involvement of other land claimants, the landowner’s private army, and the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).

What is already known is that the victims are all recruits of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW), a front organization of the CPP-NPA. In fact, they were recruited, after paying P500 for 1 hectare of land, less than two days before the incident.

According to the families, residents, and local authorities in the area, the victims are not workers in the farm or claimants to the land. DAR has also claimed that the victims are not entitled beneficiaries. They were brought there by their recruiters from the NFSW who left just before the shooting happened.

CPP-NPA Involvement

As we have been stressing in the past weeks, the CPP has been hatching plans to oust the Duterte Administration and this incident is part of their plan to rouse civil unrest and discredit the government.

The CPP's "Oplan Bungkalan", a nationwide campaign to mobilize farm workers to rally for the cause of the communists marketed as a struggle for agrarian reform, is taking advantage of farmers and is using them as bait.

By manipulating, deceiving, and exploiting the needs of these farmers, the NFSW has put the lives of these farmers in grave danger by pitting them against the landowner and other land claimants in the area, with the ends of jumpstarting an orchestrated nationwide protest by leftist groups.

I am convinced, that when the conclusive findings of the investigation have been released, the CPP-NPA and its puppet organization NFSW will have blood on their hands.

AFP, PNP non-involvement

As to the alleged involvement of the AFP in the killing of nine farmers, DAR Secretary John Castriciones has already categorically denied the AFP and the police’s involvement in the killings and clarified that the incident is a land conflict.

We call on leftist groups to substantiate their allegations and give the families some reprieve and consolation by not propagandizing and politicizing the incident.

Assistance and Justice

While the investigation is on-going, we have extended our sincerest condolences to the victims’ families and we have committed to provide any assistance to ensure that justice will be served and the perpetrators will be put behind bars.

The AFP, DAR, DSWD, and local government unit of Negros are working together to give immediate and long term aid for the victims’ families and to ensure that justice will be served. The government and its security forces will work together to resolve the social cancer and land conflict in the area.

The AFP is one with the farming communities of Negros and the whole country in these trying times. We call on all workers to be more perceptive and vigilant in order to protect their interests from being exploited by front organizations of the CPP-NPA and by personalities who may use the incident as leverage for their political ambitions. ///



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