Luisita
Strikers Nabbed, Detained
Union condemns harassment
Human rights violations at the Hacienda
Luisita continue as 10 strikers and a striker's son, were arrested,
detained and beaten up last Nov. 14. The military is said to be once again
behind the dastardly act.
BY ABNER BOLOS
Bulatlat
At about 2 a.m. of Nov. 14, 10 strikers and a 15-year old
striker's son were sleeping near the picket line along the main road in
front of Barangay (village) Balete, Tarlac City when about 20 soldiers
suddenly and without warning came and searched them. The workers, all
members of the United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU), were punched, kicked
and hit with armalite rifles.
Arnold Cunanan, one of the workers, was repeatedly hit with a steel tube
at the legs and lower part of his body. The 11, which included two women
and a minor, were then forced to board the shuttle jeep of the Central
Azucarrera de Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU).
They were taken to a house being rented by
the soldiers in Barangay Balete where they were reportedly beaten up again
while being interrogated for about three hours. It was only at around 5
a.m. when they were transferred to the police station in Tarlac City. Twenty-one year old
Rachelle Bayudan’s cellular phone was confiscated by the soldiers.
The strikers identified the leaders of the
arresting team as TSgt. Julius Paman, Sgt. Dennis Mendoza and a certain
Michael Salvador who the strikers said is also a soldier.
The two women arrested were Bayudan and
Malou Ricardo, 29, both from Brgy. Balete. The minor was Nino Oles, son of
Rico Oles, 39 of Brgy. Bantog. The others were: Cunanan, 37;
Eduardo Martinez, 25; Arnel Padel, all of Brgy. Balete; Renato Mendoza,
35, Brgy. Cut-cut II; Eduardo Capulong, 27, Brgy. Mapalacsiao; Lito dela
Cruz, 35. Brgy. Asturias; and Resty Puzon, 20, Brgy. Motrico.
All barangays (villages) are among the 11
villages that comprise the 6,443-hectare Hacienda Luisita, Luzon's largest
sugar estate owned and operated by the family of former President Corazon
Cojuangco-Aquino of the powerful Cojuangco clan in Tarlac.
ULWU president Rene Galang said in an
interview with Bulatlat that it was another form of harassment
against their union, which has successfully staged a one-year old strike
resulting in the work stoppage of the sugar estate.
On Nov. 6 last year, ULWU, the plantation
workers' union, and CATLU, the mill workers' union, staged a simultaneous
strike citing unfair labor practices and a deadlock in the negotiations
for a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) as basis.
Criminalization
“This is another vicious attack on the
legitimate struggle of the workers of Hacienda Luisita. Instead of
pursuing negotiations that the unions have consistently asked for, they
resort to another senseless act of violence,” Galang said.
“They have charged three of our members
with trumped-up criminal cases. In so doing they are criminalizing an
inherent right of the people to act and seek redress for their
grievances,” Galang added.
Galang was referring to the charges filed
against Cunanan, Ricardo and Martinez who were charged for allegedly
violating RA 8294 (Illegal Possession of Firearms) and RA 3553
(Anti-Deadly Arrow Law). The strikers deny they were in possession of any
deadly weapon when arrested.
Cunanan and Ricardo are now detained at the
Tarlac City Police Station. The two have been under surveillance by the
military since the strike started last year. They were listed as members
of the New People's Army (NPA) in the book "Trinity of War" published by
the Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
(AFP) and in a slide presentation of the AFP titled "Knowing the Enemy."
The other nine strikers who were nabbed
together with the two have been released to the custody of Balete Brgy.
Capt. Rodel Galang.
Charges revived
As the warrantless arrest of eleven
strikers took place, Galang and 22 others received their subpoena and are
scheduled for arraignment on Thursday, Nov 17. Two of those charged,
Isidro Batan and Albert Gonzales, are already dead.
All of those charged are officers and
members of ULWU. They have been charged with "alarm and scandal" for
staging a protest march inside the hacienda in mid-summer of 2003. The
case is now docketed at the Municipal Trial Court in Tarlac under Criminal
Case No. 1237-05.
Galang said the revival of their case "is
part of the seemingly unending scheme of the Cojuangco family to harass
the union. We were surprised that a case that we assumed have been
dismissed is being revived at this time, especially just after the murder
of [CATLU president Ricardo Ramos].
"In their futile attempt to end the strike
on their terms, they are doing everything to make things hard for us,"
Galang said.
He said the Cojuangcos are desperate to
operate the mill before the year ends. Sugar milling season in the country
is from October to April of the next year.
During initial negotiations with ULWU last
Nov. 10, CAT vice president for operations Ernesto Teopaco said that even
with the strike, CAT is expecting to harvest at least 600,000 tons of
sugarcane compared to the 900,000 to one million tons of sugarcane
harvested during the previous years.
Meanwhile, during a visit to his
troops in Tarlac on Nov. 11, Major General Jovito Palparan, commanding
general of the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army,
said, “After almost eight months of focused and dedicated efforts, the
troops were able to facilitate the surrender of 176 sympathizers and
supporters of the CPP/NPA at the environs of Hacienda Luisita, most of
them are now undergoing the usual cross-examination and re-orientation
processes. Job well done!” Bulatlat
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