EDITORIAL - Massacre in Negros

The secretary of agrarian reform was quick to clear the military and police of involvement. John Castriciones said nine sugarcane workers who were massacred in Sagay City, Negros Occidental last Saturday night were part of a militant farmers’ group that had occupied a private sugar plantation called Hacienda Nene in Purok Firetree, Barangay Bulanon.

It’s unclear if Castriciones was implying that the nine fatalities, including women and teenagers, had it coming. He said initial reports linked former members of the communist Revolutionary Proletarian Army to the attack. An angle being pursued by probers is that militias or members of a private army were responsible, to prevent further illegal occupation of the plantation.

Security forces claimed the nine were communist recruits who were murdered by the New People’s Army so the attack could be blamed on the government. If this were true, it wouldn’t be the first time that the NPA would kill its own members. The truth, however, will be known only if the perpetrators are caught. Members of the National Federation of Sugarcane Workers, to which the nine reportedly belonged, condemned the attack and pinned their suspicion on government security forces.

Malacañang gave the proper response: officials promised that those responsible for the “dastardly act” would face “the full wrath of the law.” Government investigators should see to it that the promise is fulfilled. Palace officials also said President Duterte intended to visit the wake of the victims.

Such a visit along with the assurance of justice should blunt the impact of the massacre on the communist insurgency, which is made stronger by gross human rights violations. There are unconfirmed reports that the victims were promised ownership of the land that they occupied, but the plantation has not been subjected to agrarian reform. Social injustice fuels insurgencies. The government must show the public that “full wrath of the law” to prevent what is now being called the Sagay massacre from being a symbol of injustice.