• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The New People’s Army did it.
That is the conclusion of the investigation conducted by the police in connection with the massacre in rebel infested Sitio Kangkiling, Brgy. Buenavista, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, that killed four members of a family.
P/Maj. Mary Grace Socorro Borio, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office 6, disclosed that the outcome of police investigations was based on the accounts of witnesses, as she disputed claims that the Western Visayas police is not objective in their investigations of the Himamaylan killings.
Witnesses of the gruesome murders who volunteered information to the Himamaylan City police, have already been relocated to ensure their safety, earlier disclosed PCapt. Judesses Catalogo, spokesman of the Negros Occidental Police Office.
In a statement, the New People’s Army accused the Philippine Army of being behind the incident, claiming that Rolly Fausto, one of the four victims, had been Red tagged by authorities.
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Negros Occidental has started collecting documents and statements on the brutal killing of the Fausto family, disclosed Vincent Para, head of the CHR sub-regional office in Bacolod City.
On June 14, Rolly Fausto, his wife, Imelda, and their two minor sons aged 11 and 15 years old, were summarily executed in Sitio Kangkiling, Brgy. Buenavista, Himamaylan City.
According to the investigation of the Himamaylan City police, witnesses revealed that the armed suspects shouted “Mabuhay ang NPA, Mabuhay ang Hukbo. Tanan nga traidor patyon (Long live the NPA, Long Live the Army. All the traitors must be killed),” after the shooting incident.
The investigation of the Himamaylan police disclosed that about 15 armed men were involved in the commission of the crime.
Fifty-three spent 5.56mm shells, believed to be from an M16 assault rifle, were recovered from the scene of incident, where victims succumbed to multiple gunshot injuries.
Pinning the blame on the NPA is an old and tired tactic the AFP uses to escape accountability for its crimes against the people, Coni Ledesma, head of the National Democratic Front Special Office for the Protection of Children, said in a statement.
The facts indicate categorically that members of the NPA terrorist committed the killings, Borio said, stressing that their investigation is based on “evidence and not on hearsay and biased statements from the CPP-NDF-NPA propaganda machinery.”
In a statement, Borio added that the ploy of the CPP NPA to discredit government forces and create fear amongst those peace advocates who believe that peace can bring progress, even in the hinterlands, will not succeed.*
