This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 22, July 10-16, 2005
LABOR WATCH
As strike reaches 5th week
While protests against the
continued stay of Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo heighten in Metro Manila and key
cities nationwide, the workers at Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMCo)
continue to fight for their rights and welfare. The management, however, with
the help of the police, has only responded with violence at the picket line as
the strike reaches its fifth week.
BY SARAH DEKDEKEN-SIBAYAN,
ALDWIN QUITASOL AND ABI BENGWAYAN MANKAYAN, Benguet — The
unfolding drama at the picket line continues as the fifth week of the miners’
strike saw a series of arrests and dispersals, the latest of which happened last
July 9. Nineteen members of the
Lepanto Employees Union (LEU) were arrested last July 2 at around 2:30 a.m. They
were detained at the Mankayan Municipal Jail for 38 hours. Immediately after, some 100
elements of the Philippine National Police (PNP) dispersed the protesting
workers of the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMCo) who were at the
picket line near the Nayak gate. Arrested were
Manuel Allibang, Rex Kacweis, Albert Pongchai-en, Tony Sabino, Rudy Sabino, Rod
Ngeteg, Pablo Lumiwes, Benson Kesaed, Micheal Marnag, Julius Sagayo, Marcelino
Guimpac, Johnson Mangalog, Marcelino Sacantiwan, Lambert Domoguen, Joseph
Maragcay, Nelson Badua, Alfred Lugnas, Paterno Basingan and Melchor Kia-ew. Fifteen
workers were leaving the Mill Site picket area near the Carlos Palanca Jr. (CPJ)
Center after a shift in the picket line when policemen from Camp Bado Dangwa led
by Col. Ernesto Gaab and retired Col. Wilhelm Doromal, head of company security,
shoved the workers inside three police cars. Thirty minutes after, four more LEU
members were arrested at the Nayak picket area during the dispersal. One of the
striking workers reportedly injured his shoulder as a result of the scuffle.
Sagayo, one of the arrested workers, said that the PNP nabbed them without
showing a warrant of arrest or even explaining why they were being arrested.
“Idi
magmagnaak a mapan agawid idiay Pukitan, adda agarup
lima nga armado nga pulis nga bigla
nga nangiguyodguyod ken nangidur-duron kanyak. Nakitak met lang nga adda met
dagiti kakadwak a mangmangged nga tiniliw da ket nainayonak kadakuwada
(When I was going home to Pukitan, around five armed police officers suddenly
grabbed me and started dragging and pushing me. They brought me to their service
vehicle where I saw some of my companions who were also arrested).” Sagayo added
that some of the policemen kicked them while they were being arrested. Kia-ew, one of
the four workers arrested in Nayak, said that armed police officers approached
their picket line and immediately handcuffed him. “Idi ip-ipan dak dagiti
pulis idiay lugan da, nakitak ken nanggeg ko nga inkasaan dagiti pulis sada
pinaturungan ti paltog dagiti um-umay a kakadwak a da Basingan ken Lugnas tapno
kuma sumublat nga agbantay iti piketlayn. Inguyod dagiti pulis isuda ket
inserrek dakami idiay lugan da. Tiniliw da met diay maysa a kadua mi nga ni
Badua idiay Sapid nga adda lang nga agin-inana idiay maysa nga store (When
the police officers were bringing me to there service vehicle, I saw some of the
policemen cock their firearms and aim at Basingan and Lugnas. Badua, one of our
companions, was arrested even if he was only resting in a sari-sari store in
Barangay Sapid).” While
detained, the workers were told that they would only be released if they paid
P2,000 ($35.65, based on an exchange rate of P56.10 per U.S. dollar) bail each.
Indignation rally Families of the detainees
and other protesters were denied entry at the gate of the Municipal Hall two
hours after the series of arrests. When they asked why they were arrested, Sr.
Inspector Edward Aquintey,
Mankayan chief of police, said they stand accused of harassment. At around 7
a.m. last July 2, Mankayan women under the Timpuyog dagiti Babbai iti Minas a
Lepanto (TBML, or Movement of Women in Lepanto Mines), the striking workers, and
other residents staged a rally at the Municipal Hall grounds to condemn what
they called unlawful arrests.Formal charges were only filed against the workers
late in the afternoon of July 2. Those arrested
near the CPJ were accused of grave coercion, while the four people arrested in
the Nayak picket area were accused of direct assault. At around 4 p.m. same day,
the PNP forcibly dragged four more workers from the Nayak picket line into a
waiting police car. On the way to the town hall, the car, however, was blocked
by those at the indignation rally. The PNP then released the workers.
The day after
(July 3), four lawyers – Mary-ann Bayang, Thomas Bayugan, Randy Kinaud and Chit
Yangot –negotiated the release of the 19 workers and had their bail reduced to
P500 ($8.91) each.
More dispersal Immediately
after the arrest of the four workers near the Nayak picket area last July 2, the
PNP dispersed the protesters at the picket line, confiscating the tent, some
plastic chairs and the the iron gate that they put up. According to
Phoebe Papat, wife of a mine worker, they were surprised when the police
officers arrived and started pushing the men aside to force the gate open. “They
were armed with guns and truncheons, and when the protesters struggled against
them to guard the iron gate from entry of newly hired employees of LCMCo, the
men were mauled by the PNP,” she said. The PNP
escorted the entry of a company-hired bus, from Northern Trans, boarding 29 new
employees. Last July 5, however, Tony Baggay of Cordillera chapter of Kilusang
Mayo Uno (KMU, or May First Movement) reported that 10 new workers abandoned
their work in the underground mines. This was followed by another four, he said.
The PNP dispersed last July 7 the Nayak picketline and escorted another busload
of new recruits into the Nayak tunnel. Workers were
not able to confront the newly-hired workers since the PNP aimed their firearms
at them. Two days after
(July 9), another dispersal happened at the LCMCo’s Tubo picket line.
Provincial
council for Lepanto striking workers Meanwhile, the
Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP, or Provincial Council) of La Trinidad in Benguet
last June 27 passed Resolution No.05-213 which calls on the Police Regional
Office through Chief Supt. Noe Wong to “exert maximum tolerance and
non-violence” with regard to the strike at LCMCo. The resolution
was passed as a result of reports from the media and the LEU that the PNP
deployed at the labor dispute site violently dispersed the Tubo and Nayak
picketlines last June 18 and 21, respectively. In the resolution, the SP
recognized the union’s statement that the PNP deployment was an overkill.
The SP pointed
out that the “primary function of the PNP is to maintain public safety (and)
peace and order.” Last July 1,
the SP’s Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) provided
medical assistance to the families of the striking workers. This was made
possible through SP Resolution No. 05-216. The latter was passed following
reports of the company hospital closure and the alleged non-admittance of
patients related to the striking workers. Nida Tundagui
of the KMU-Cordillera added that the SP’s two resolutions only show the broad
support for the striking workers despite the Department of Labor and
Employment’s (DOLE) Assumption of Jurisdiction order. “After all, it
is government’s responsibility to help the striking workers”, she said. Nordis /
Posted by Bulatlat © 2004 Bulatlat
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Lepanto Miners Nabbed, Dispersed
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat