Probe mission, PNP clash on Negros family slay

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

A fact-finding mission that included two opposition members of the House of Representatives and a Philippine Independent Church bishop on Friday disputed a military and police report that communist rebels killed four members of a peasant family, pointing instead to Army soldiers as those responsible for the brutal massacre last week.

The National Solidarity Mission (NSM) presented its findings at a press conference in Bacolod City on the June 14 killing of farmer Rolly Fausto, 52, his wife, Emilda, 49, and their sons Ben, 11, and Raben, 15, in Himamaylan City in Negros Occidental province, and the death of Crispin Tingal Jr., another farmer, in Kabankalan City on May 3.

READ: CHR probes killing of family of four in Negros Occidental

Bishop Virgilio Amihan, who read a statement of the NSM, said the massacre of the Fausto family was the “culmination of a series of harassment, destruction of properties, violation of domicile, illegal search and Red-tagging that was similarly inflicted on the Tingal family who barely escaped a pattern of attacks—from Red-tagging to massacre.”

Government security forces on Thursday said that members of the New People’s Army (NPA) gunned down the Faustos at their home in Sitio Kangkiling, Barangay Buenavista, around 10 p.m. on June 14, citing accounts of witnesses.

Flosemer Chris Gonzales, a government prosecutor and spokesperson for the Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict in Western Visayas, said that Rolly had been working with the 94th Infantry Battalion, an Army unit engaged in counterinsurgency operations in the province.

“He had been negotiating for the surrender of several members of the Central Negros Front. It is the reason that the NPA killed Rolly Fausto and his family. Just because of his efforts for peace, the Fausto family was massacred,” Gonzales said.

According to Gonzales, the investigation by the Philippine National Police provincial office had “categorically proven” that the NPA was responsible.

He said they already secured judicial affidavits of at least nine witnesses who identified members of the NPA’s Central Negros Front as the killers.

The police and Army press conference was held in Talisay City, about 10 kilometers south of Bacolod, the provincial capital, and 70 kilometers from Himamaylan.

In addition to Amihan and two members of the Makabayan bloc in the House, the NSM participants who visited Barangay Buenavista on June 22 were composed of representatives of various church, farmers, women and human rights groups.

Shot at close range

“We hope the PNP’s investigation of the Fausto massacre was genuinely impartial—only then would their supposed breakthrough have credibility. Problem is, reports on the ground say otherwise,” said Ariel Casilao, Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura chair.

“Stories of coercion, in which witnesses are forced to testify and follow a script provided by the PNP to paint the NPA as perpetrators, have been shared with us,” he added.

The police said the Faustos were shot at close-range with an M16 rifle. Rolly’s body was found in a cornfield 50 meters away from his house while his wife and sons were found in and outside their house.

At least 53 5.56mm bullet shells were found at the scene.

Himamaylan police chief Lt. Col. Reynante Jomocan said that based on the extrajudicial affidavit of one of the witnesses, 15 armed men led by a certain Fernando Hermino executed members of the Fausto family.

A third child, who was not home at the time, discovered the bodies and reported the incident to the Himamaylan police.Police Major Mary Grace Socorro Borio, regional police spokesperson, said they had “evidence” to prove their allegations against the rebels.

“We present our case based on evidence and not on hearsay and biased statements from the propaganda machinery of the CPP-NDFP-NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front of the Philippines-New People’s Army),” she said in a statement on Thursday.

According to the NSM, Tingal’s ordeal began last December when his house was forcibly entered and searched by soldiers. His family was allegedly subjected to “physical and mental torture.”The father of seven was shot to death allegedly by soldiers inside his home on May 3, the NSM said.

The NSM said the Fausto couple were members of Baclayan, Bito, Cabagal Farmers and Farmworkers Association while Tingal was affiliated with the United Church of Christ in the Philippines.

Witnesses reported a previous incident where 12 military men allegedly ransacked the Faustos’ hut and killed their chickens, according to the human rights group Karapatan.When he arrived home, Rolly was dragged to a vacant house and coerced to admit his affiliation with the communist rebels.

“The soldiers tied his neck with a belt and forced him to confess that he is a member of the NPA, and to reveal other NPA members. He was also kicked twice in his shoulders,” Karapatan reported.

Other villagers recounted their own experience of rights violations, including three incidents of alleged frustrated killings, three illegal arrests, one disappearance and numerous threats, harassment and intimidation.

Impartial investigationThe NSM called for an impartial investigation by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), Congress and international groups of the killings and other atrocities allegedly committed by security forces on Negros Island.

“Families experience loss of livelihood, severe trauma, especially among children, and a grave violation of their freedom of association. Farmers who cultivate the land and feed the nation deserve peace, justice and the right to enjoy the fruits of their labor,” the NSM said.

Vicente Parra, head of CHR-Negros Occidental, said it began its own investigation of the Himamaylan on Friday.

Parra said his office would look into whether the Fausto couple were really “Red-tagged” for alleged links to the NPA and that Rolly was an Army informant.

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said the NSM participants were not expected to agree with the PNP and military reports.

“Being on the government side, of course, I put value to the report of the military,” he said, adding that what was important was for the culprits to be identified. INQ