LABOR WATCH

As strike reaches 5^th week
Lepanto Miners Nabbed, Dispersed

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
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat

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

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