AFP: Massacre of farmers ‘a sinister plot’ by Reds

THE Oct. 20 massacre of nine sugar farmers in Sagay City, Negros Occidental, is “a sinister plot” by communist rebels in line with their destabilization of President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s government, according to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
In a news conference led by AFP Chief, General Carlito G. Galvez Jr., he said, “Ang nakikita namin dito na ang larger intention is to put the President in (a) bad light. Ito parang halatang halata mo na there is a sinister plot, there is some orchestration, nakikita namin talaga dito, na may nakalatag na nakaplano na.” (What we see here is the larger intention to put the President in a bad light. You will see right away that there is a sinister plot, there is some orchestration, we really see it here that a plan is in place).
The AFP chief added, “What is already known is that the victims are all recruits of the National Federation of Sugar Workers, a front organization of the CPP-NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army). In fact, they were recruited, after paying P500 for one hectare of land, less than two days before the incident.”
“By manipulating, deceiving, and exploiting the needs of these farmers, the NFSW has put the lives of these farmers in grave danger, by pitting them against the landowner and other land claimants in the area, with the ends of jump starting an orchestrated nationwide protest by leftist groups.”
“We call on workers to be more perceptive and vigilant in order to protect their interests from being exploited by front organizations of the CPP-NPA and by personalities who may use the incident as leverage for their political ambitions.”
For his part, AFP Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Major General Isidro L. Purisima said, “‘Yung CPP-NPA, nabulgar na natin in the past, may grand plan sila, nandiyan ‘yun Oplan Talsik tapos kasunod ng plano na ito ‘yung Oplan Bungkalan.” (The CPP-NPA, as we have exposed in the past, has a grand plan. There is Oplan Talsik (Operation Plan Ouster) and, after that, Oplan Bungakalan (Operation Plan Land Occupation). — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras