This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 26, August 7-13, 2005
LABOR WATCH
Police Break Up Miners’ Picket, Nab 2 Workers
At around 5:30 a.m., Aug. 6,
over 100 armed police officers led by Maj. Brent Madiaco and Capt. Richard Abon
dispersed striking workers picketing the Tubo gate. During the dispersal
operations, police arrested Douglas Farnican and Francisco Dida. Workers believe
that the arrests were part of a plan hatched by the PNP and the management of
Lepanto Mining Corporation.
By Northern Dispatch MANKAYAN, Benguet — At
around 5:30 a.m., Aug. 6, over 100 armed police officers led by Maj. Brent
Madiaco and Capt. Richard Abon dispersed striking workers picketing the Tubo
gate of Lepanto Mining Corporation. During the dispersal operations, police
arrested Douglas Farnican and Francisco Dida. Dida was handcuffed and
brought inside the Tubo shaft while Farnican was collared at the Tubo waiting
shed. Kilusang Mayo Uno-Cordillera (May 1st Movement-Cordillera)
spokesperson James Tulipa, together with officers of the Lepanto Employees Union
(LEU), tried to intercede with Madiaco for the release of the arrested workers.
But the latter refused. “We tried to negotiate with
Major Madiaco but he wouldn’t listen. Instead he questioned the assistance that
Kilusang Mayo Uno-Cordillera (KMU-Cordillera) is providing the workers,” said
Tulipa. After Dida was handcuffed,
the police used a company security vehicle to bring him to the Mankayan town
hall. But workers blocked the vehicle and demanded that Dida be released.
“It took a while before
authorities finally found the key to remove his handcuffs and release him,”
Tulipa said. As of 10 a.m. July 6,
workers are still looking for Farnican, whom the police probably took using
another route. “The arrests are part of a
plan hatched by the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the management. Even
before the arrests, word has it that the PNP plans to arrest one of the officers
of the union,” Tulipa said. In the same incident,
another KMU organizer was chased by PNP elements as he tried to check on his
colleagues. “After we were driven away
from the picketline, one of our colleagues arrived. Then we heard one of the
policemen shout ‘Diay man, diay naka-jacket ti nangisit’ (Arrest that
one, that person in black jacket) Tulipa said. But workers blocked the
road and prevented the PNP from catching him. KMU condemned the PNP for
its continued acts of violence against the striking workers and its collusion
with the management of Lepanto Mining Corporation. The Tubo picketline was
only recently reclaimed by the workers last July 30. Nordis / Posted by
Bulatlat © 2004 Bulatlat
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Posted by Bulatlat