March 16 a holiday in Negros Oriental to let residents take part in Degamo’s funeral

Negros Oriental map. INQUIRER FILES

DUMAGUETE CITY — Residents of Negros Oriental will have the chance to take part in the funeral of Governor Roel Degamo on Thursday, March 16.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has declared March 16 a special non-working holiday in Negros Oriental to allow people to pay their last respects to the slain governor.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said the President granted the request of the Office of the Governor in Negros Oriental to let the community “grieve and honor the memory of Governor Degamo and the other victims” in the Pamplona town massacre.

READ: Marcos taps military to get 10 more Degamo slay suspects

“It is but fitting and proper to give the people of the province of Negros Oriental the opportunity to show their respect and join the interment of Governor Degamo,” said Bersamin in Proclamation No. 185 dated March 15.

Degamo’s body will be laid to rest in Barangay Bonawon, Siaton town on Thursday, 18 days since he was gunned down by assailants inside his residence in Pamplona town, Negros Oriental, on March 4.

Eight other persons were also killed.

READ: Degamo slay planned since December

According to an advisory released by the provincial government, buses will be deployed from the capitol grounds in Dumaguete for those who want to attend Degamo’s funeral.

The buses will leave the capitol at 10 a.m. to ferry passengers to Siaton town, located 56.4 kilometers or an hour and 24 minutes from Dumaguete.

The remains of Degamo will be transferred from his parents’ house to a Catholic church in Bonawon at 1:30 p.m. The funeral Mass is set for 2 p.m.

After the Mass, Degamo’s body will be buried beside her deceased parents and sister at their family compound.

As of March 15, four suspects—Joric Labrador, Joven Aber, Benjie Rodriguez, and Osmundo Rivero—were arrested and charged. Another suspect was gunned down after allegedly engaging law enforcers in a shootout.

READ: 4 suspects in murder of Negros Oriental governor charged

The four suspects, all former soldiers, executed extrajudicial confessions, saying a certain “Cong Teves” ordered the murder of Degamo.

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