By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The investigation carried out by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) into the Himamaylan massacre will take six months.

CHR-Negros Occidental head Vincent Parra said it will take more than 100 days to complete their probe into the killings.

The results of the motu proprio investigation will be submitted to the CHR in Western Visayas for resolution.

“We have a pending request with the Philippine National Police in Himamaylan for documents, including initial investigation report, spot report and crime scene pictures,” Parra said.

The CHR planned to visit the crime scene in Sitio Kangkiling.

However, they did not proceed as the area was remote.

“We will meet with [the victims’] daughter, who reported the incident, this coming Thursday,” he said.

“We will conduct a background check on the family to determine what prompted them to move to Himamaylan. They had been staying in Himamaylan for less than a year, according to police information,” he added.

Initial investigation revealed that one of the victims, Rolly Fausto, was serving as a military informant and was involved in facilitating the surrender of several New People’s Army (NPA) members.

Parra further added that the CHR is also investigating several other cases of killings and summary executions in the city’s Barangay Buenavista.

Rolly, along with his wife Emilda and their two sons, 11-year-old Ben and 15-year-old Raben, were gunned down by still unidentified assailants.

Emilda and her sons were found riddled with bullets in their house in Buenavista, while Rolly was found in a field 50 meters away.

The village is one of several NPA-influenced areas in central Negros where clashes that claimed the lives of several communist rebels and government troops have taken place in recent years./With reports from PNA / DGB, WDJ