14-year-old Sagay massacre witness is in gov't custody

The 14-year-old who survived the massacre in Sagay City, Negros Occidental has been placed under government custody as a witness to the killing of nine farmers.

According to Chino Gaston's report aired Wednesday evening on State of the Nation with Jessica Soho, the minor only identified as "Ben" is a friend of seventeen-year-old Marchstil Sumicad who was among the casualties.

According to his statement, the victims were shot after being forced to the ground.  They were also reportedly doused with gasoline then set on fire.

A Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) official in Sagay said the witness will remain in their custody, even as individuals who introduced themselves as family members and his legal counsel came to claim him at the Sagay police station.

"So the natural father is here now and he agreed to protect and give support to his 14-year-old son so we did not...We released to the father the minor and he is still under the custody of our office,"  Consolacion Espinosa said.

Sagay Police Chief Inspector Robert Reyes Mansueto explained that the minor remains in government custody for "safekeeping."

"Merong mga interventions na ginagawa sila, gustong kunin lahat 'yung sa custody. Hindi nama...'yung pagse-safekeep lang. Pano namin (inaudible) 'yung bata? Wherein nandu'n sa custody ng DSWD," he said.

The clarification came after the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) alleged that a teenaged survivor had been illegally arrested by the Sagay police.

In a statement, the National Federation of Sugar Workers slammed the government for castigating farmers launching their bungkalan campaigns and red-baiting them in presuming they have links to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA).

"Instead of looking for the perpetrators and bringing them to justice, the AFP, like their president, chose to throw baseless accusations, red-tagging NFSW leaders and members and making them open targets to extra-judicial killings, threats, harassment, and prosecution. If anything happens to them, there is only the AFP to blame," NFSW Secretary General John Milton "Ka Butch" Lozande. — BM/MDM, GMA News