Another Pamplona massacre victim dies

BACOLOD CITY: The number of casualties from the March 4 massacre in Pamplona, Negros Oriental that also claimed the life of Governor Roel Degamo has risen to 10.

Fredilino Cafe,Jr., an employee of the Provincial Engineer’s Office, succumbed to gunshot wounds on Sunday May 7. Cafe becomes the 10 fatality of the bloody March 4 assault on the residential compound of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

In a post on her Facebook account, Pamplona Mayor Janice Degamo, widow of the slain governor, said that provincial government employee Fredilino Cafe, Jr. “was in and out of the hospital since March 4 and died on April 7.”

Cafe, assigned at the Provincial Engineers Office, succumbed from his gunshot wounds, the mayor said.

“He was among those who regularly accompanied the late governor during the slain governor's weekend consultations with Negros Oriental residents at his compound,” Degamo said.

The death of Cafe brings to 10 the number of fatalities from the bloody incident on March 4.

The other victims of the bloodbath were Santa Catalina farmer Jessie Bot-ay, Provincial Engineer's Office driver Jerome Maquiling, Santa Catalina barangay chief Florenda Quinikito, Provincial Health Office driver Jomar Canseco, Pamplona barangay councilor Jose Marie Ramirez, Tanjay City chief barangay watchman Joseph Retada, Dumaguete-based photographer Michael Fabugais and security guard Crispin Vallega.

In April, the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs conducted a series of hearings on the Degamo slay.

More than a hundred speakers, including the governor's widow, took part in the hearings.