Probe killing of peasant family in Negros Occidental, farmers urge CHR
MANILA, Philippines — Farmers and peasant rights advocates on Friday called upon the country’s human rights ombudsman to investigate the massacre of a peasant family of four in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental.
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and peasant human rights watchdog Tanggol Magsasaka reported that before their deaths, the family “endured a string of red tagging, physical and mental torture, grave coercion, and illegal searches perpetrated by state forces.”
Peasant woman Emelda Fausto, 50, and her two children were killed as they slept in their home on Wednesday night, while Emelda’s husband, 55-year-old Rolly, was found dead in a sugarcane field near their hut in Cankiling, Barangay Buenavista, according to reports from Negros-based rights group, September 21 Movement.
According to KMP, witnesses claimed that soldiers ransacked the Faustos’ hut, alleging that they were supporters of the New People’s Army (NPA).
KMP also reported that on March 22, 2022, Emelda was interrogated and harassed by armed men in military and plain clothes who then slaughtered her chickens and stole some P5,000 from their home.
Rolly was reportedly accosted that same day, “tortured and forced to confess his alleged ties with the NPA,” according to KMP.
Article continues after this advertisementKMP added that Emelda reported two separate cases in which their home was forcibly opened and ransacked.
Article continues after this advertisementInquirer has requested the official reports and further details from the Philippine National Police, Philippine Army, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines on this case, but has yet to receive a response as of this posting.
Not an isolated incident
KMP coordinator Danila Tabura maintains that the massacre is not an isolated incident as numerous killings have been reported in Negros, even under the previous administration led by Rodrigo Duterte.
“Negros Island became a laboratory of state fascism, the led to the extrajudicial killing (EJK) of more than a hundred individuals, mostly farmers and activists, including Atty. Ben Ramos and human rights activist Zara Alvarez,”
In March 2019, 14 farmers were killed in joint operations across Negros Oriental on the grounds that they were alleged NPA members.
READ: Negros killings: Farmers’ kin say police also robbed them
In December 2018, five persons were killed in Guihulngan City while one was killed in Santa Catalina in simultaneous Negros Oriental police operations.
Two months prior, nine sugar workers in Sagay City, Negros Occidental were massacred. Western Visayas police claimed that the killings were part of the NPA’s goal to discredit the Duterte administration.
