THE killings of nine farm workers in Sagay, Negros Occidental, over the weekend were part of a plot of the New People’s Army to oust President Rodrigo Duterte, the military said Wednesday.
In a press briefing, Armed Forces chief Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. said the workers were recruited and allegedly deceived by the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW), a front organization of the communist rebels.
Galvez claimed the workers paid the NFSW an amount of P500 for one hectare of land, less than two days before the incident.
The nine farmers were killed on Saturday night, after a small group of gunmen fired at them while they were eating dinner at their tents at Hacienda Nene in Brgy. Bulanon.
Based on accounts given by residents and authorities in the area, Galvez said the victims were neither workers nor claimants of the land and were recruited by the NFSW only in the morning on the day of the incident.