The Philippine National Police (PNP) has secured the judicial affidavits of two witnesses as investigators continue to expedite the filing of charges against the perpetrators in the brutal killing of the Fausto family in Negros Occidental’s Himamaylan City.
The update was presented by the Himamaylan City Police Station during a press briefing organized by the Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (PTF-ELCAC) in Bacolod City.
Lt. Colonel Reynante Jomocan, city police chief, said through the first witness, they were able to identify the suspects.
“More or less 15 armed men executed the shooting of the victims,” he said. The police investigation showed they were led by Fernando Hermino, squad leader of New People’s Army (NPA) Central Negros Front 2.
Jomocan said the second witness heard the conversation between a suspect and one of the victims.
The two witnesses are secured in police custody, he added.
On the night of June 14, couple Rolly and Emilda Fausto and their two minor sons were gunned down by perpetrators believed to be members of the NPA in their house in the remote Barangay Buenavista’s Sitio Kangkiling.
Jomocan said they are waiting for the results of the ballistic and other examinations conducted in the course of the investigation, but the pieces of evidence are almost complete for the filing of the case.
“We are also waiting for the decision of the family to issue their affidavits,” he said.
Lt. Colonel Van Donald Almonte, commander of the Philippine Army’s 94th Infantry Battalion, said they have deployed troops in the sitio to assure residents that they are protected.
“We also provide security to the policemen conducting the investigation,” he added.
The press briefing was also attended by Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, chairperson of PTF-ELCAC; Himamaylan City Mayor Rogelio Raymund Tongson Jr.; Colonel Leo Pamittan, director of Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office; Colonel Nhel Richard Patricio, officer in charge of 303rd Infantry Brigade; Barangay Buenavista councilman Remegio Tuazon; and Prosecutor Flosemer Chris Gonzales, chairperson of Joint Focus Legal Action Team for Western Visayas and spokesperson of Regional TF-ELCAC. (PNA)