The massacre in broad daylight that killed eight people, including Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo, and wounded 16 others inside the residence of the governor is not simply senseless. It is rather an indication of failure on the part of the government to put end to political families who harbor criminals to act as bodyguards and cultivate fear among their constituents in order for them to stay in power.
The creation of a Joint Task Force Negros which will be composed of the military and the police tasked to suppress the criminal activities and impunity in Negros island only validates the said failure. It acknowledges the fact that there are indeed private armies in the island or even perhaps around the country.
The Degamo case may be a blessing in disguise for those victims of the atrocities and abuses and their families who have been crying for justice for some time now but are refused of it because the suspects are the elected leaders themselves.
While the police has arrested four of the 17 gunmen and killed one them during the hot pursuit operations, 12 are still at large armed and dangerous. The continuing investigation has now yielded a confession from one of the arrested suspects that the one who ordered the murder of Degamo was Congressman Teves. They are yet to ascertain the details of the confession.
The police has conducted raids in the properties of former Representative Arnolfo Teves Jr. and several firearms and ammunitions were confiscated as he is not allowed to carry one since his license to carry any firearm was nullified by the police early this year.
However the police was quick to clarify that the raid was not associated with the murder of Governor Degamo but a response to the 2019 murders of Board Miguel Dungog, Lester Pialgo Bato and Pacito Libron.
The timing however of the filing of murder cases against former Representative Teves was interesting as the police only submitted the charge after Degamo was murdered. Either the police is building a stronger case against him on the Degamo case and hold him while the investigation is on-going or the police were afraid of Teves and it took them three years to file the murder cases.
Unfortunately, the said murder cases only qualify the earlier statement that the government has failed to purge politicians and armed groups who abuse their position to perpetually stay in power and further their sinister interests.
