This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 27, August 14-20, 2005
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 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 © 2004 Bulatlat
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Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat