Sad day as blast victim dies

I am sorry we lost Larry, a victim of delusional people living in an alternate universe, who are now celebrating their so-called victory against oppression.  —Davao City mayor Sara Duterte

DAVAO CITY—The fish vendor who was wounded in an explosion set off by the New People’s Army (NPA) during an attack against a company owned by the family of former Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. here last week died on Thursday.

Dr. Ricardo Audan, chief of clinics at Southern Philippines Medical Center here, said Larry Buenafe was pronounced dead at 4 a.m. due to “severe head injury secondary to blast injury.”

Buenafe, 34, was on a motorcycle and was tailing an armored personnel carrier of Task Force Davao in Barangay Tigatto when the rebels, who earlier attacked Lapanday Foods Corp.’s (LFC) boxing plant in Barangay Mandug, set off an improvised explosive device.

Mayor Sara Duterte, President Duterte’s daughter, was enraged at the incident and criticized the NPA for harming a civilian.

Apology
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in Southern Mindanao had apologized to Buenafe’s relatives, saying they would be compensated.

“The 1st PBB (Pulang Bagani Battalion) reported that a team of its Red fighters carried out the demolition action against the reinforcing troops of Task Force Davao
in Barangay Tigatto after the NPA unit assaulted the LFC box and plastic plants in nearby Barangay Mandug. The blaster-operator saw that Mr. Buenafe was far from the target military vehicle and proceeded to detonate the explosives. The shockwaves and splinters, however, hit and injured him,” said Rubi del Mundo, spokesperson of the NDFP in the region.

“The NDFP-SMR deeply apologizes to the family of Mr. Buenafe and to the public for this occurrence,” Del Mundo said.

In a statement, Mayor Duterte said the news of Buenafe’s death was “a sad day for Davao City.”

“I am sorry we lost Larry, a victim of delusional people living in an alternate universe, who are now celebrating their so-called victory against oppression. But it is a celebration that means nothing except grief for the true victims,” Duterte said.

She said Buenafe was “murdered by people who think that it will make a difference if they punish the Lorenzos by burning their factories.”

“The attacks, that so-called punitive actions to dispense social justice, did make a blowing, heartbreaking difference—to a widow, to a daughter, to a son,” she said.