Another Hacienda
Luisita in the Making?
Soldiers,
paramilitary men deployed in strike-bound Lepanto mines
Workers at the Lepanto
Consolidated Mining Company are not just having problems with the
management. Right now, they have even bigger problems as 85 soldiers and
members of paramilitary units were deployed in their area. Is there a
connection between the deployment and the ongoing labor dispute?
BY ALDWIN QUITASOL and
NIDA TUNDAGUI
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat
MANKAYAN, Benguet
— Since when have soldiers and para-military groups been used to
solve labor disputes?
Last May 10, some 85
soldiers were deployed here (348 kms north of Manila).
According to the
Cordillera chapter of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU, or May First Movement)
the troops were deployed immediately after an Assumption of Jurisdiction (AJ)
order by Labor Secretary Patricia Sto.Tomas with regards the labor dispute
between the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMC) and the Lepanto
Employees Union (LEU).
KMU-Cordillera
spokesperson James Tulipa said that the deployment is a clear move of the
company to sow fear among the workers at LCMC.
He said that the
soldiers’ commanding officer Ben Anongos did not even pay a courtesy call
to Mankayan Mayor Manalo Galuten when they arrived. Tulipa called the
Office of the Mayor and talked to the secretary who said that the mayor
was not informed of the soldiers’ presence.
Who
ordered?
“If the local
government of Mankayan did not call for the deployment of the soldiers,
then who else asked for it if not the company?” said Tulipa.
The soldiers
reportedly belong to the 54th Infantry Battalion (IB) of the
Philippine Army with members of Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army (CPLA)
integrees and the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) based in
Mt.
Province. Ten soldiers are deployed in
each of Barangays Colalo, Cabiten, Tubo and Baguyos. The other 45 were
spread throughout other areas of Mankayan.
According to KMU-Cordillera,
LEU President Ninian Lang-agan said that the workers were surprised by the
presence of the armed men in the said areas. “Masdaaw kami nu apay nga
adda dagiti soldado ket awan met ti mapaspasamak nga gubat ditoy Mankayan”
(We have no idea why there are soldiers deployed here when there is no
war here.).
Lang-agan added that
many of the workers suspect that the deployment of the troopers is
connected with their ongoing dispute with the company especially since the
armed men arrived a day after the AJ was issued.
“Saan a lapped ti
kaadda da iti plano mi nga
agistrike nu saan a maresolba ti problema mi. Awan ti pagbutngan mi ta
legal met ti ilablaban mi ken saan kami a makigub-gubat,”
(Their presence however will not stop our plan to go on strike if our
problem will not be solved. We are not afraid because our fight is legal
and we are not going to war) Lang-agan said.
Last November, the
labor secretary also directed the AFP and police to send troops to the
strike-bound Hacienda Luisita in
Tarlac City. Seven striking farm
workers were killed in a massacre said to be perpetrated by the soldiers
on Nov. 16.
Sto. Tomas’ authority
to deploy troops in strike areas where the labor secretary has assumed
jurisdiction (AJ) has been questioned by labor groups and in Congress.
Northern Dispatch / Posted by Bulatlat
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