Colmenares using ‘Sagay 9’ for campaign, Defense chief claims

MANILA, Philippines— Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Monday accused former Rep. Neri Colmenares (Makabayan party-list) of using the massacre of sugarcane workers in Negros Occidental to boost his senatorial bid.

Lorenzana said that “by blaming the government forces right off the bat, Colmenares shows how desperate he and his comrades are in trying to discredit President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration and gain public attention."

"We urge Mr. Colmenares not to use this tragedy as a springboard to campaign for his party-list group," Lorenzana said in a press statement.

“It is a cheap and indecent trick to burnish his image as a party-list nominee at the expense of the farmers’ death,” he added.

The DND chief made the statement after Colmenares on Sunday condemned the massacre of the nine members of the National Federation of Sugar Workers at Hacienda Nene in Sagay City, Negros Occidental. Among the victims were three women and two minors.

READ: 9 sugar workers slain in Negros Occidental hacienda

Colmenares did not outright say that security personnel were behind the killings, but nonetheless linked the murders to a supposed government crackdown on dissent.

“That is really absurd because the issue of land is a legitimate issue. This is an attempt of the Duterte govt to quell any form of protest by criminalizing legitimate demands,” Colmenares said on Sunday.

He demanded an immediate and impartial probe into the massacre.

In his statement, Colmenares also noted that Brig. Gen. Eliezer Losañes, commander of the military's 303rd Infantry Brigade, earlier claimed that Land Cultivation Areas were communal farms that support the New People’s Army.

In April, the general claimed the NPA was maintaining 22 communcal farms in nearby Escalante City and were sources of income for the rebels.

"As NFSW have repeatedly pointed out, the goal of setting up land cultivation areas is to ward off the inevitable hunger brought by the Tiempo Muerto (dead season in the sugar industry) by planting on properties vegetable, corn and root crips on undistributed and idle lands to feed their families," Colmenares also said.

Lorenzana: Allegations without evidence

Lorenzana on Monday slammed Colmenares saying that, as a lawyer, he should know that it is “wrong and unfair to make allegations without any evidence.”

"There is an ongoing investigation on the matter already and one should refrain from making unnecessary statements until the final report has been submitted," Lorenzana said.

“There is a proper time and venue for the examination and evaluation of evidences, and throwing out allegations at this point is irresponsible and highly suspect,” he added.

RELATED: PNP checking 'Red' involvement in killing of Negros sugar workers

Meanwhile, government agencies also condemned the killing of the nine sugarcane workers.

“The cowardly act has no place in our civilized society, coming as it is when the prevailing industrial peace is threatened by spiralling costs of basic commodities and services.  This is a sabotage of the gains of the Duterte government in guaranteeing decent work, job security and blissful life,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said.

Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones also said he "strongly condemned the killing," adding in a statement that the department "has always pushed for the peaceful resolution of land disputes between landowners and farmers through dialogues and mediation meetings."

He stressed the farmers with the NFSW had "no legal basis for occupation ot ownership" of the land they occupied briefly last SAturday.

They said the farmers "entered the plantation as part of a unilateral land occupation activity or 'bungkalan'."

RELATED: 'Bungkalan' caused by unaddressed social injustice, land rights group says