MANILA, Philippines – A fish vendor who was among those hurt in last week’s simultaneous attacks by the New People’s Army (NPA) against the Lorenzo family has died. And Mayor Sara Duterte thinks the communist rebels, who claim that they are the army of the people, did not win against their rich enemy but only victimized already vulnerable people.
“I am sorry we lost Larry, a victim of delusional people living in an alternate universe who are now celebrating their so-called victory against oppression,” Duterte said in a statement issued Thursday.
Larry Timbal Buenafe suffered from severe head injury when a landmine planted by the NPA in one of the three Lorenzo-owned facilities exploded in Brgy. Tigatto, Davao City. He was comatose for four days at a hospital in Davao and underwent surgery but died early Thursday morning.
Duterte said the NPA had no reason to celebrate because its victory “means nothing except grief for the true victims” – Buenafe, his family, and the workers of Lorenzo’s Lapanday Foods Corp., who would become jobless because of the attacks.
“Larry was murdered by people who think that it will make a difference if they punish the Lorenzos by burning their factories. It did make a difference, but definitely not to the Lorenzos because their wealth is still there, tucked safety somewhere. Of course, their business issues do not in any way affect their lives,” the mayor said.
“It also did make a difference to the hundreds of employees of the company who lost their jobs. Larry and his family, the employees who lost their jobs and their families — these are the true victims of those attacks,” said Duterte.
“They are the ones punished by a shady group who claims to be the true army of the people.”
“The attacks on Saturday and the death of Larry today should always remind us of the twistedness of an ideology and the monsters behind it, how they employ fear and terror in their attempt to cloak their insignificance and the obsolescence of their political belief,” she added.
