HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Gov’t, Military Attack Workers' Rights – Int’l Labor Mission

An International Labor Solidarity Mission (ILSM) held from May 2-8 visited different regions in the country where human rights violations were reportedly violated with impunity. The ILSM team in Central Luzon concluded that the violations start when workers assert their rights in farms, factories and other work areas and that it is perpetrated by the Arroyo government and the military.

BY ABNER BOLOS
Gitnang Luson News Service
Posted By Bulatlat

Beyond the hills is the METALORE Mining Corp. where at midday on April 17, 2006, 27 mine workers were arrested without warrant by soldiers of the 56th IB. The workers were interrogated, beaten and forced to confess that they were colluding with New People’s Army (NPA) guerillas. Four of the workers, including an operations manager, had not been seen to this day and had been presumed dead.

The ILSM Central Luzon team, participated in by seven delegates coming from Canada, Australia, Hongkong, Bangladesh, Nepal, and local union members, visited the region to investigate the forcible abduction and disappearance of the METALORE workers; trade union repression at the International Wiring Systems (IWS) factory in Tarlac City and Console Farms in Bulacan; the assassination of four leaders connected with the strike at Hacienda Luisita; and the recent spate of killings and abductions in Bulacan.

No justice

The ILSM team started with courtesy visits to Tarlac governor Jose Yap and Tarlac city mayor Genaro Mendoza. Then they went on a long dusty ride to the home of slain union leader Tirso Cruz in Barangay Pando, Concepcion town, one of the ten villages that comprise Hacienda Luisita.

The killing of Cruz, 33, allegedly by government agents occurred only one and a half months before, and the pain of loss is vivid on the face of the victim’s wife, Elizabeth and his father, Federico, as they told their story to mission members.

“Wala pang nabigyan ng katarungan sa lahat ng mga pinatay sa asyenda. Mahirap lamang kami. Ang gobyerno na dapat tumulong sa amin ay hindi man lamang inimbestigahan ng husto ang mga sundalo sa detachment na nandoon nung barilin ang aking anak ilang metro lamang ang layo,” (Not one of those killed in the hacienda has been given justice. We are poor. The government, which is supposedly there to help us, did not even investigate the soldiers who were in the detachment when my son was shot a few meters away.) Federico said.

“I am saddened by what is happening to the people of the hacienda. The government is pitting people against people instead of acting on their complaints and they are being killed,” Eileen Young, a delegate from the Center for Philippine Concerns in Montreal, Canada told GLNS.

Fourteen workers and their supporters have been killed since the infamous November 16, 2004 Hacienda Luisita massacre. Cruz was murdered during early dawn of March 17 and he is regarded as the 14th ‘martyr’ of Hacienda Luisita.

“Walang ginawa ang asawa ko kundi tumulong sa kanyang kababaryo at kapwa niya manggagawa. Bakit siya pinatay?,” (My husband did nothing but help our neighbors and his fellow workers. Why was he killed?) Cruz’s wife, Elizabeth asked. She was left with three very young sons, aged eight, seven, and a ten-month old baby and with no means to feed and send them to school.

 At the home of slain Central Azucarera De Tarlac Union (CATLU) president Ricardo Ramos, his family complained that six months after the murder, the court case appears to be going in favor of the soldiers who are suspects to the killing.

“We cannot afford to hire our own lawyer. The military arrives at the hearings in full force. In spite of overwhelming evidence and witnesses, the case may probably be dismissed if nothing is done about this,” Romeo, a brother of Ramos told the team.

Ramos, who was also village chairman of Mapalacsiao, was shot at the head by a sniper positioned some 15 meters away as he was entertaining co-workers at home on October 25, 2005. He was known as an uncompromising leader of the hacienda workers. The workers emerged victorious after the strike ended less than two months after his death.

Military as suspects

Aksir Chowdhury, a lawyer and a delegate from the National Workers’ Federation in Bangladesh noted that the cases are peculiar because people in government, especially the military, are being suspected as the perpetrators.  The victims’ families think that the Philippine government either condones the killings or is not at all serious in prosecuting the cases.

“This is a reality. When people assert their rights, they face the combined machinery of the capitalists and the government. It is not hard for people here to conclude they have no chance within the legal system,” Chowdhury, who describes himself as a ‘people-oriented’ lawyer with 16 years practice in Bangladesh, told GLNS.

During the first four months of this year alone, 25 political activists were killed and 13 were abducted and are still missing in the region, according to Roman Polintan, chairperson of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance)-Central Luzon.

Records of Karapatan-Central Luzon (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) show that of the 179 recorded cases of political killings nationwide in 2005, 71 cases or 40 percent occurred in the region. All of the victims were civilians who were leaders or members of people’s organizations and institutions, which the military believes to have links with the Communist Party of Philippines or the NPA.

The killings reached “genocidal proportions” when Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, commander of the 7th Infantry Division that covers the entire region, was assigned here in September last year, Polintan said.

Local officials helpless

Local government officials are quick to condemn the killings but seem helpless when it comes to solving the crimes.

Tarlac governor Jose Yap said local officials were united in condemning the killings, especially that of Tarlac city councilor and Bayan Muna leader Abelardo Ladera and Central Azucarera De Tarlac president Ricardo Ramos who were his close acquaintances.

“But the problem is there is not enough evidence to pinpoint and punish the perpetrators of the heinous crimes. Witnesses are afraid to testify because they fear for their lives,” Yap told mission members.

“We condemn the killings, but we can not do anything if there is no evidence to arrest and prosecute the suspects,” Yap, who is also a lawyer, said.

In Bulacan, Dona Remedios Trinidad mayor Evelyn Paulino said everyone is in danger in the wave of killings and abductions that also hit the province.

Records from the Promotion of Church People’s Response-Bulacan showed that at least 20 political murders and 10 cases of abductions occurred in the province since last year.

“We are all victims here. Even government officials are not spared. We are doing what we can for our constituents who have been killed or maltreated but there is only so much we can do,” Paulino said.  

Tess Tesalona, a delegate from the National Workers’ Alliance of Canada says that because the government agrees and cooperates fully with the Bush administration’s so-called ‘war on terror,’ the killings and wholesale violation of human rights are occurring with impunity.

“There is no question that this is some sort of distorted government policy instigated by the U.S.. So many have died, yet not one case has been thoroughly investigated and the perpetrators punished,” Tesalona told GLNS. 

Trade union repression

The ILSM team concluded that the abuses start when workers assert their rights in farms, factories and other work areas.

“Filipino workers are among the most exploited in the world. They receive very low wages and bear with difficult working conditions. When they stand up for their rights, they are suppressed,” Ng Koon Kwan, a delegate from the Hongkong Confederation of Workers’ Unions said.

 At the Console Corp. farm in barangay Sta. Inez, San Miguel, Bulacan, union president Reynaldo Pizon related how soldiers of the 24th IB admonished union members to disaffiliate from the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May 1st Movement)  and not to join rallies.

“Alam ng management na tinatawag kami at ini-entoragate sa detachment ng grupo-grupo.Tinatakot nila kami. Sabi nila pag hindi kami tumigil, bahala na si Gen. Palparan sa amin kapag nagreport sila,” (The management knew that we were asked to go to the detachment where we were interrogated in groups. They  threatened us by saying that if we did not stop, they will report us to the military and it will be all up to Gen. Palparan what to do with us.) Pizon told mission members.

About 10 workers have stopped working because of the harassment but the rest of the 160-strong union are determined to fight for their rights at the risk of their lives, Pizon said.

The Workers’ Alliance in Region III (WAR3), the regional chapter of KMU, documented many cases of trade union repression and union busting.  It said that at least 11 union leaders were killed by military agents since last year.

Norly Pampoza, president of the 3,200-strong International Wiring Systems Employees Union (IWSEU) at the Luisita Industrial Park in Tarlac city told the ILSM team that the company has repeatedly tried to remove union officers and replace them with management loyalists but failed because of the workers’ unity and militance.

Angie Ladera, acting WAR3 chairperson and former president of the IWSEU said she also went through intensive military surveillance and was almost abducted.

She said that the “degree of attacks on unionists correspond to the intensity of their struggle.” 

“When the Luisita workers went on strike for better pay, benefits and job security, the stakes were too high for the Cojuangco family and the government. They can’t allow workers to be so strong. That may explain why leaders are still being killed at the hacienda,” Ladera told GLNS.  

Pampoza, Ladera and Romeo Zarate, former officers of CATLU, the sugar mill workers’ union in the hacienda, told the ILSM team that along with a number of union leaders in the region, they are in the military’s “order of battle” and have taken extra-ordinary precautions to ensure their safety.

A laboratory for death squads

Rene Galang, president of the 5,000-strong United Luisita Workers’ Union (ULWU) said that after the government declared the Luisita strike “a matter of national security” in January 2005, the entire region was turned into a “laboratory for death squads” whose brutality became even more pronounced when Gen. Palparan was assigned  here.

“Central Luzon continues to bleed from the blood of workers, peasants and other working people.” Galang told GLNS. He said there have been repeated attempts on his life and he had to seek refuge outside the hacienda to evade his killers.

Daisy Arago, executive director of the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights said that the ILSM showed to the delegates the alarming trend of political killings and labor repression in the region.

The findings are contained in a final mission report to be submitted to the International Human Rights Commission in Geneva and other international institutions.

“Looking into the patterns of surveillances and threats prior to the occurrence of the violations, notably the killings, the team concludes that the military and the government are the primary perpetrators of trade union and human rights violations,” the mission report said.

For Michael Hughes, the difficulties they faced are well worth it. 

“We sympathize with the working people of the Philippines. We extend our solidarity to them and will help bring their plight to world attention,” Hughes said. Gitnang Luson News Service/ Posted By Bulatlat

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