Ex-President Aquino Locked in Long-Drawn Battle with Hacienda Workers

He may be hungry and unemployed, but union leader Rene Galang (Ka Boyet) is determined to continue the fight for justice to the workers of Hacienda Luisita, Inc. His dedication to the struggle has already rubbed off on the other striking workers as they remained steadfast in the picket line, braving violent dispersals and the presence of soldiers.

BY DABET CASTAÑEDA

Bulatlat

Union president Boyet Galang leads Hacienda Luisita workers man the picket line.

HACIENDA LUISITA, Tarlac - “Gutom (hungry),” was Rene Galang’s honest reply when asked how he was doing after losing his job for 14 years. 

Galang, or Ka Boyet as his co-workers call him, is the newly elected president of the United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU), the union of sugar farm workers in the country’s biggest sugar plantation, Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI). The company is owned and managed by the family of former President Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino. 

But after winning the union presidency in June and facing the management in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) four times since July, Ka Boyet today finds himself unemployed.  He, together with 326 other permanent and seasonal workers in HLI, was given notice on Aug. 24 of his retrenchment due to HLI’s alleged financial losses.

Ka Boyet stressed that his retrenchment was a form of political harassment on the part of the HLI management. “Ayaw ng management na bigyan ako ng tsansa maging lider ng aming unyon” (Management does not want to give me a chance to lead our union), said Galang. 

Hacienda leader

Ka Boyet was a marked man of the HLI management since he became an active member of the Alliance of Farm Workers in Hacienda Luisita (or Ambala) in 2001 and was elected president of the peasant organization in 2003 taking over from Ben Pamposa who has since been retrenched. 

In Bulatlat’s interview with the peasant leader in early March, Ka Boyet said that soldiers belonging to the 69^th Infantry Battalion (IB) have been going around the hacienda asking neighbors where he lives. 

But the threats did not deter Ka Boyet’s resolve to lead his fellow workers. He accepted the challenge of running for union president in June amidst risks to his work and security.  

Galang (right, standing) summons co-workers to hold on
to their strike, amid threats of dispersal by management

“Malaki ang pangangailangan na makuha ang liderato ng unyon upang maitaguyod ang interes ng mga manggagawang bukid” (There is big need to secure the leadership of the union to uphold the interest of agricultural workers.), he said adding that the past union leadership has put the interest of the sugar farm workers at bay.  In fact, he added, the past union leaders agreed to only P17.50 ($0.31, based on an exchange rate of P56.35 per US dollar) increase in daily wages that was good for five years as stated in the CBA.

During the election campaign for union leadership, Ka Boyet also became a subject of black propaganda. Leaflets branding Ka Boyet’s political party as a front of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army were secretly distributed around the hacienda.

But the harassment and black propaganda did not work against Ka Boyet.  In fact, he was able to get 1,700 votes from among 3,500 voters in the hacienda making him a popular choice for the union presidency.  His closest rival only got 900 votes. 

Ka Boyet assumed his position on July 1 together with six other executive officers, 12 directors and 12 sub-stewards. 

Retrenchment

At the height of the CBA negotiations on Aug. 24, Ka Boyet and 326 other permanent and seasonal workers in HLI received a memo from the management stating that they are retrenched from the company effective Oct. 1. They shall, however, receive their full month pay until September and a separation pay equivalent to a month’s salary. 

The memo also stated that although they are still fit for work, they are voluntarily waiving their right to their shares of stock and their right to the land they till. 

Invoking Article 212 paragraph F of the Philippine Labor Code which states that retrenched union officers shall remain in their respective positions while their retrenchment is on appeal and that they have not received their separation pays, Ka Boyet, union vice president Eldy Pingol and seven other directors continued to represent the union despite their notice of retrenchment.

Labor lawyer Nenita Mahinay, legal counsel of ULWU, argued however that the HLI management’s allegations that Ka Boyet and eight other officers cannot lead the union has no legal basis.  She said workers who have been terminated by reasons of labor disputes continue to be considered as employees and, as such, are entitled to self-organization that includes being leaders of their union. “Under the law, they are supposed to be recognized by the management,” she said. 

Mahinay added that retrenchment that immediately includes the union officers is deemed to be an unfair labor practice and is the management’s means of busting the union.

Moreover, on the CBA negotiations scheduled Oct. 12, a certain Ronnie Alcantara, a union director from Barangay Mutrico, presented himself as the new union president.  Alcantara, a former union officer, supposedly told the union officers that he has been assigned by management to act as president due to Ka Boyet’s retrenchment.

Mahinay condemned the management’s decision which she said only aims to divide the ranks of the sugar farm workers. 

Harassment of striking workers

The alleged unfair labor practices led the sugar farm workers to send a notice of strike to the HLI management. Their picket officially started at exactly 12 noon on Nov. 6 and they have since experienced harassment from the management. 

At around 6 p.m. of Nov. 6, the Cojuangcos’ security guards manning the main entrance of the CAT tried to disperse the striking workers of ULWU by using water cannons and tear gas.  Undaunted, the workers regrouped and established the picket line anew only to be awakened by another tear-gas attack early morning the next day. 

The sugarcane workers, however, did not leave the picket line.  They held a torch march around the villages of Central and Mapalacsiao on the night of Nov. 9 to persuade other workers and members of the hacienda community to join and support the workers’ strike.

On late afternoon of Nov. 10, Mahinay said Tarlac Gov. Arturo “Apeng” Yap was invited by the Cojuangcos to a closed-door meeting inside the family compound.  Mahinay said she was not sure of what transpired at that meeting but if it is any indication, two truckloads of soldiers arrived at the picket line early evening.

Mahinay said the soldiers wanted to break the picket line to allow the entry of the tons of sugar cane harvested from the plantation on Nov. 5 and 6 and the truckloads of sugarcane bought from other plantations outside the HLI. 

But the sugar farm workers held their ground, forcing the soldiers to leave the hacienda premises. 

Members of the ULWU got tremendous support from the residents of the 10 villages inside the hacienda. Around 5,000 workers and residents were mobilized to support the strike on Nov. 12, reports said.

According to Ka Boyet, they will only lift the strike if the management would reinstate around 80 workers who have not got hold of their separation pays and that it gives in to their CBA demands. 

“Hindi kami aalis dito hangga’t hindi kami hinaharap ng management sa negosasyon sa CBA’ (We will not leave the picket line until the management faces us for the CBA negotiations.), Galang said as ULWU and CATLU members continue to hold their ground and fight for their rights at the picket line. Bulatlat 

Photos by Dabet Castañeda

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