GMA News Online has apologized for its mistake in a report which quoted League of Cities of the Philippines National President and GRP Peace Panel Adviser Edgardo Pamintuan, as saying the communist rebels are behind the killings of farmers in Nueva Ecija.
In an erratum, “GMA News Online corrected its article to remove the line saying that Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan had alleged that the CPP-NPA was behind the killings, which was published in error. We apologize for the mistake.”
Earlier, Pamintuan, who is also mayor of Angeles City, has threatened to file a formal case against television and radio network GMA 7 and its reporter Jessica Bartolome for publishing a “wrong and very dangerous and damaging report.”
In its online gmanews.com, Bartolome wrote, “Angeles City Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan, adviser of the government’s peace panel, had earlier condemned the killings. He alleged that the CPP’s armed wing, the New People’s Army, and its political wing, the National Democratic Front (NDF) are behind the killings due to land disputes.”
“I never said that!,” Pamintuan exclaimed. “That is a case of malicious reporting. The reporter twisted the truth,” Pamintuan added.
Labor Secretary and lead peace negotiator with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Silvestre Bello III on Saturday vowed justice for farmers slain in their homes in Laur, Nueva Ecija.
Bello will request the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate the series of killings in the province. “I will request the NBI to investigate these dastardly acts to ensure that the perpetrators are identified and brought to justice.”
The slain farmers, identified as Emerenciana Mercado-de la Cruz, Violeta Mercado-de Leon, Eligio Barbado, and Gaudencio Bagalay, were shot dead while resting in a nipa hut in their farm in Laur last September 3. – Tonette Orejas