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 54^th 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