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BY RANIE AZUE
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Wednesday, November 8, 2017
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BACOLOD City – A human rights group called to end a series of killings in the mountainous municipality of Salvador Benedicto in Negros Occidental.
North Negros Human Rights Advocates (NNHRA) said an “outside intervention” is needed to stop the killings before they worsen.
NNHRA member Boyet Amaca said eight people have already been killed in the town.
Amaca believed that the killings rooted from political rivalry, red tagging of farmers, land grabbing, and armed conflict, especially between the New People’s Army (NPA) and the Revolutionary Proletarian Army (RPA).
Last July, the conflict led to the death of Charlie Boliboli, an alleged RPA commander.
Amaca said Boliboli’s death prompted RPA members to ambush a farmer and two companions who were suspected NPA rebels the next month. The farmer died.
Amaca claimed that Boliboli’s death was also connected to the killing Councilor Eden Bacordo of Salvador Benedicto and his bodyguard in October.
Amaca added that Bacordo’s father, Barangay Silang village chief Vicente Bacordo, and the late former Salvador Benedicto mayor Nehemias Dela Cruz were said to be high ranking officials of the NPA, but became political rivals.
Moreover, Amaca said members of the Negros Federation of Sugarcane Workers were also accused of being NPA rebels. He said armed groups were threatening the members.
The NNHRA urged the Commission on Human Rights and other national agencies to look into the series of killings in the town.
It also accused the local police of turning a blind eye on the killings.
Amaca added that the residents of Salvador Benedicto, particularly those living in the hinterlands, are “living in fear.”/PN
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