Degamo nephew believes uncle's killers also targeting other elected officials

Siaton Mayor Cezanne Fritz Diaz believes the recent killing of his uncle Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo could have been perpetrated by an organized group, with more elected officials, including him, still on their list.

According to Diaz, the group behind the killing of his uncle was involved in illegal activities, which was the motive behind the attack earlier this month.

“Organisasyon sila. Hindi ito isang tao lang, itong suspect, hindi lang siya, grupo ‘yan,” he said in a report by Chino Gaston on GMA’s “24 Oras Weekend” on Sunday.

(They are an organization. The suspect is not just one person, they are a group.)

Degamo was talking to beneficiaries of the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in his residence in Pamplona when armed men barged in and opened fire on him.

Degamo’s remains will be brought to Siaton for public viewing on Monday, after which he would be brought to a family-owned property and buried on Thursday.

Degamo and five others were killed during the shooting incident. The death toll went up to nine the following day, while 13 others were reported to have been seriously injured.

Three suspects were apprehended during a hot pursuit operation in Bayawan City on March 4, with another suspect killed in an alleged encounter with authorities in the province.

Another suspect was arrested on March 5.

The Philippine Army has since deployed more soldiers in Negros Oriental to secure parts of the province as operatives continue to pursue the killers in the Degamo slay. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/DVM, GMA Integrated News