Army general Jogy Leo Fojas yesterday challenged militant groups to present any proof that the military is behind the disappearance of an organizer of the National Federation of Sugarcane Workers.

Fojas, commanding general of the Army's 303rd Infantry Brigade, said that if their accusers fail to prove their alleged involvement, then they are "liars".

NFSW organizer Perseus Geagoni, 42-year-old resident of Brgy. Zone 4, Talisay City, was reported missing since Dec. 5 by his wife, Nieva, and sister, Asela Murillo.

Fojas is alleged to be a leader of New People's Army sparrow hitmen in Negros, Fojas said.

Nieva reported to the police that her husband had left on a motorcycle to go to the NFSW office at Libertad Street in Bacolod City, to get some documents on Dec. 5, and failed to return home as of this time.

NFSW chairman Guillermo Barreta raised suspicions that the military may have abducted Geagoni.

Three other NFSW organizers identified as Edwin Bargamento, Manuel Batolina and Mario Fernandez had been killed by still unidentified suspects in Manapla and Silay City, Negros Occidental in previous months.

Their assailants remain unidentified until now.

Fojas said the NFSW and its allied organizations always make them scapegoats whenever something happens to their members.

He said the alleged disappearance of Geagoni may have been caused by internal problems within the labor organization.

The breakaway Revolutionary Proletarian Army rebel faction was earlier accused by militant groups of being behind the killings of NFSW organizers, allegedly in connivance with the military.

The police admitted that they still have no solution to the killings of Batolina, Bargamento and Fernandez.

Bargamento and Batolina were gunned down on April and June in Brgys. Tortosa and Purisima, Manapla. The body of Fernandez with multiple stab wounds was found in Brgy. E. Lopez, Silay City, in June this year.

Senior Supt. Charles Calima, provincial police director of Negros Occidental, said the absence of witnesses and the refusal of the victims' families to cooperate, makes their job in identifying the suspects more difficult.

Ballistic examinations on the slugs and empty shells taken from the crime scenes in Brgys. Tortosa and Purisima, Manapla show that they came from only one firearm - a .45 caliber pistol, police investigations show.*GPB

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