HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Cordillera Rights Watch Demands Soldiers’
Pullout from Strike-Bound Lepanto
As support for the
striking workers at the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMC)
continues to pour in, soldiers have decided to increase their presence in
the area but using as an excuse the sightings of New People’s Army rebels
in nearby areas where the strike was being held.
BY ABI T. BENGWAYAN
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat
BAGUIO CITY (246 kms
north of Manila) — More human rights violations in the offing?
The Cordillera Human
Rights Alliance (CHRA) believes that this could happen as soldiers were
recently deployed in Mankayan, Benguet allegedly due to sightings of New
People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas, especially at the strike-bound Lepanto
Consolidated Mining Company (LCMC). The rights watchdog called for the
immediate pullout of the army unit.
In a statement, the
CHRA said that the presence of the military would only lead to more cases
of human rights violations perpetrated by the Philippine National Police
(PNP) deployed in Lepanto following the Assumption of Jurisdiction (AJ)
order by Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) Secretary Patricia Sto.
Tomas last May 10.
The PNP has committed
cases of arbitrary arrest and detention, harassment, grave coercion and
physical injuries to the workers and their families, said the CHRA.
Meanwhile, the
Lepanto Employees Union (LEU) whose strike is already on its third month
reported that 14 dispersals have taken place since June 17 at the picket
lines since June 17, injuring hundreds of workers including women. Most of
the dispersals happened from 2-5:30 a.m.
Twenty-three workers
were arbitrarily arrested in two instances last July 7. These workers were
released with the assistance of the CHRA and other human rights lawyers
from Baguio
City, it was also learned.
PNP Senior Supt.
Villamor Bumanglag said the police are not responsible for these HRVs. The
CHRA, however, disagreed and even noted that the PNP ignored the Benguet
Sangguniang Panlalawigan’s (provincial council’s) Resolution No. 05-213
signed last June 26 which ordered the PNP to stay 50 meters away from the
picket line.
Alleged NPA sightings
Armed Forces of the
Philippines-Civil Relations Group (AFP-CRG)’s Maj. Vicente Basilan and
PNP’s Bumanglag confirmed the presence of the military in Mankayan.
According to the army’s intelligence reports, at least 40 NPA guerrillas
were seen in Barangay Bedbed recently. Another 140 guerrillas were
reportedly seen in the Benguet (Mankayan) and Ilocos Sur (Cervantes)
boundary.
A local television
interview with Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) spokesperson Preme Monta
last June however confirmed that the police and military deployment is
meant to protect expansion operations of Lepanto in Cervantes and to aid
in the entry of foreign mining companies.
In an interview with
LCMC resident manager Augusto Villaluna on May 31, he said that the
military deployment in the area was also due to the alleged NPA sightings.
Meanwhile, Baguio-based
human rights group Dinteg Indigenous Law Center expressed concern over the
“mounting violence over the handling of the (striking LCMC) workers” in a
letter to Sto. Tomas.
“Several of our
advocates and lawyers were witnesses to the violent engagement in the
recent march-rally last July 23 where several workers and police elements
suffered from physical injuries in the aftermath of stone throwing and gun
shooting. It has also come to our attention that a kid was locked crying
inside a bunkhouse as PNP elements forcibly padlocked the bunkhouses of
so-called dismissed workers,” Dinteg said in a letter signed by its Board
of Directors Chair and City Councilor Atty. Jose M. Molintas.
Dinteg also called
for the immediate pullout of the PNP’s Task Force Lepanto and to refrain
from deploying armed personnel at the picket lines. The group stated that
the presence of armed elements has violated the workers’ right to strike.
Dinteg further said
that the solution to the labor dispute is for Lepanto management to
reinstate the 19 union officers and members.
Support from various groups
Rev. Dr. Benjamin A.
Justo, bishop of the Baguio Episcopal Area, denounced the LCMC for the
inhuman ways of dealing with the workers. He said that while the Lepanto
management wallows in richness and profit, the workers are denied of their
rights to have a decent living.
Before leaving the
picket lines after a four-day exposure trip that ended last Aug. 12, Justo
and 36 pastors, lay leaders and the district superintendents of the United
Methodist Church agreed to shell out P10,000 for the workers’ immediate
needs like rice. Justo assured the workers that the United
Methodist Church, in particular the
Baguio Episcopal Area, will always be one with them.
For its part, the
Denmark-based International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) said
in a statement that they found the human rights violations against the
LCMC striking workers “very serious.” The IWGIA stressed that the LEU
already adjusted their earlier demands for wage increases but the
management failed to agree on this adjusted demands.
The IWGIA is an
international organization that supports struggles of indigenous peoples
for human rights, self-determination, right to territory, control of land
and resources, cultural integrity and right to development. The group
brings its documentations on violations against indigenous peoples to the
concerned governments and the agencies of the United Nations such as the
Commission on Human Rights under the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Founded in 1968 by human rights activists and anthropologists, IWGIA is
among the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that hold consultative
status with the UN ECOSOC.
“This kind of support
is well and good for all of us. It can help enlighten the Makati-based
executives of Lepanto that we are supported for our just struggle,” said
Ronald Maslian, spokesperson and auditor of LEU.
He said that the LEU
continuously receives solidarity support from here and abroad including
the groups of Cordillera domestic workers in Hongkong. With reports
from Arthur L. Allad-iw / Bulatlat
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