Solons seek probe of ‘Sagay 9’ massacre

PHOTO from the House Makabayan bloc

Progressive lawmakers from the House of Representatives have sought an inquiry into the brutal massacre of nine sugarcane workers, including two minors and four women, in Sagay City, Negros Occidental last Saturday night.

READ: 9 sugarcane workers gunned down in Negros Occidental

ACT Teachers Reps. Antonio Tinio and France Castro, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, Gabriela Reps. Emmi de Jesus and Arlene Brosas, Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao, and Kabataan Rep. Sarah Elago filed House Resolution No. 2262 on Monday.

The resolution directs the House committees on agrarian reform and human rights to conduct a joint probe into the “Sagay 9 massacre.”

“This is a war against the people and a war against the poor,” Brosas said in a press briefing after they filed the resolution.

“Ito ang tunay na (this is the real) Red October,” Zarate said, referring to the so-called “Red October” destabilization plot to overthrow the Duterte administration.

READ: House Resolution 2262 to probe Sagay 9 massacre 22-Oct-2018 13-50-094002165317585807490

The lawmakers noted in the resolution that in the morning of Oct. 20, farm workers under the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) in Hacienda Nene, Purok Pine Tree, Barangay Bulanon, Sagay City, entered the hacienda to cultivate the land.

By 9:00 p.m., unidentified men opened fire at the farm hut where the nine farm workers were resting, the NFSW said.

Western Visayas police director Chief Insp. John Bulalacao has blamed the attack on communist New People’s Army (NPA), but the Makabayan bloc earlier said the military and militia forces could be responsible for the killings.

READ: Farmers provide food yet gov’t welcomes them with bullets — 2 solons