DAVAO CITY – More than a week after the killing of nine farmers, Kabacan Mayor Herlo Guzman noted a "good development", saying more witnesses have come forward and provided vital details in the ongoing investigation on the gruesome incident. In an interview over the phone, Guzman told The Manila Bulletin that the witnesses have approached him, and assured him of their full cooperation in the ongoing investigation. He confirmed that a team from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has been in his town since last week, and will soon come up with the cartographic sketches of the suspects. “The NBI did not give a timeframe in the ongoing investigation because they did not want to hasten investigation to avoid half-baked results,” the mayor explained. On August 29, nine farmers were killed in what appeared to have been an execution, contrary to initial reports that it was a shootout between feuding clans, or locally known as “rido”. Police said the victims were onboard motorcycles when still unidentified gunmen stopped them, and gunned them down around 12 noon. Eight of the victims were killed on the spot while the another expired a few hours later at a local hospital. Aside from the NBI, Guzman also confirmed that the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) government was also set to start its own parallel investigation as two of those killed were from two barangays under the BARMM. The killings sparked public outrage, particularly among Muslim communities, as rumors circulated in social media that tagged the police as behind the killings. It was said to be in retaliation to the killing of a police chief in neighboring town of Carmen in a police operation. According to reports, the suspects behind the killing of Carmen police chief Major Joan Resurrecion were from the remote villages of Kabacan. This developed as Guzman and some Muslim officials have appealed to the public to stop spreading unverified information as it will only complicate the volatile situation. The allegations against the police have also triggered the Commission on Human Rights Region 12 to launch its own investigation. Guzman admitted that the tension has affected the business atmosphere in Kabacan, saying that some traders have closed their shops last week earlier than usual. “This was because of the speculations being circulated in the social media that the families of those killed will reportedly retaliate. This has temporarily wedged the relationships of Christians and Muslims here,” admitted Guzman. “But now the business atmosphere is slowly recovering,” he added. Read more: https://mb.com.ph/2020/09/02/pnp-creates-task-force-to-look-deeper-into-kabacan-shooting/