Never forget, Never Again, Dili Kalimtan, Di na gyud!
These were the chants of a crowd of thousands who gathered Tuesday at the Benigno Aquino Freedom Park fronting the Provincial Capitol to mark the second anniversary of the assassination of Gov. Roel Degamo and nine others.
Supporters of Gov. Degamo and some survivors of the massacre spoke, recalling the traumatic experience at the Degamo compound that Saturday.
Roel Degamo’s widow, Pamplona Mayor Janice Degamo, narrated stories of harassment experienced by their family and ordinary folk committed by the family of their political opponents who are also the accused masterminds of the assassination.
She recalled that when Roel was forced to step down to allow Henry Teves to assume the governorship, that was when she first saw her husband sob uncontrollably. “It’s all right to lose,” she recalled her husband saying, “but not because we were cheated!”
“If we do not watch out, what happened to us could happen to you. If they could do that to a sitting governor, couldn’t they do that to anyone of you?” Janice asked.
Gov. Chaco Sagarbarria, on the other hand, said the memory of Roel continues to live in the hearts of Negrenses, as he had served them from the heart.
“Everywhere I go, someone would approach me to tell me what a good leader Roel was,” he said.
He said that he continues to face threats to his safety which makes him mindful of his surroundings at all times. “That is why the Sagarbarrias have united with the Degamos because I cannot do this alone,” he said.
Sagarbarria said that as a peace-loving province, this violent incident should never happen again Negros Oriental. (AP)
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Photo Caption: Pamplona Mayor Janice Degamo, Dauin Mayor Galicano Truita light the Christ Candle during the prayer rally marking the second anniversary of the Degamo assassination while Zamboanguita Mayor Fritz Diaz looks on. (PIO photo)
