The killing of 14 farmers allegedly tagged to be members and supporters of the New People’s Army in Negros Oriental was done under “legitimate” joint military and police operations, Malacañang said Monday.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo came to the defense of the Philippine National Police after rights groups alleged that the police authorities massacred the farmers.
“We have already a report on that. It’s a legitimate police operation. The search warrants were issued by a competent court, and they were implementing that,” Panelo said in a Palace press briefing.
‘‘And the 14 of them fought with the law enforcers, and they were killed in the process. Twelve of them were arrested and [authorities] are now doing the legal process,” he said.
On Saturday, the police said the 14 men engaged officers with search warrants for illegal firearms in a shootout, prompting them to return fire.
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines then confirmed one of the slain victims, identified as Edgardo Avelino, was the leader of Hugpong Kusog Mag-uuma (HUKOM) under the left-wing organization Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP). The rest, as stated by the NDFP, were civilians.
According to KMP, two of their members, namely Nestor Kadusale, a leader of KMP-Negros, and Azucena Garubat of Naghiusang Mag-uuma sa Panubigan, were also arrested.
The NDFP then called for justice, viewing the police operation as a mere display of abuse. Rights groups also insisted the men were farmers “asserting their rights to land.”
Karapatan party-list said the PNP conducted a “massacre” on defenseless farmers allegedly tagged as members and sympathizers of communist rebels. The Federation of Agricultural Workers also condemned the deaths.
Several leftist lawmakers denounced the latest killings, blaming President Rodrigo Duterte’s policies for the rising number of attacks on farmers.
The Palace official, however, shrugged off the concerns of rights groups and left-leaning lawmakers, reiterating that what happened remains a “legitimate police operation.”
“You know, that is the usual statement issued by those who are linked with the Communist Party of the Philippines,” he said.
In October 2018, nine farmers were killed when still unidentified men shot them as they were resting in their tents at the Hacienda Nene in Barangay Bulanon in Sagay City, Negros Occidental.
Both the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines believed the victims were members of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW), a suspected front of the CPP-NPA. They even tagged the communist New People’s Army as the perpetrators of the killings.
A month after the killing, the Palace announced that Duterte ordered additional troops sent to several parts of the country to repress acts of lawless violence.
In his Memorandum Order No. 32, the President called for the deployment of additional police and military forces in provinces of Samar, Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, and even the Bicol Region in a bid to “prevent such violence from spreading and escalating elsewhere in the country.”
PNP chief Oscar Albayalde also maintained that the killings were the result of a legitimate law enforcement operation.
The police followed strict procedures in the conduct of the operation against the 14 suspects, he said.
“These operations are all covered by search warrants. They have 36 search warrants in different parts of Negros Oriental. This does not happen in one place. It is not true that it was a massacre, this happened in different places,” Albayalde said.
Policemen in Negros Oriental has launched separate police operations in Canalon City, Manjuyod town and in Sta. Catalina last Saturday, killing 14 individuals—eight in Canlaon; four in Manjuyod and two in Sta. Catalina.
At least 12 suspects were also arrested during the three separate but simultaneous operations that wounded a policeman while those killed during the operations had reportedly fought back.
He said the police would never fire their guns unless the suspects fought back.
Albayalde also denied that all of the 14 killed were farmers, but said he would welcome an investigaiton.
Witnesses and families of those killed, however, told ABS-CBN News that the police in Negros Oriental province executed their victims “tokhang” style.
The Commission on Human Rights said Sunday it would investigate the killings.
READ: NPA blamed for massacre of 9 farmers
READ: Massacre in Negros: 9 workers killed; land dispute eyed