This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 16, May 29-June 4, 2005
Another Hacienda Luisita in the Making?
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 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 54th 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 © 2004 Bulatlat
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Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Soldiers, paramilitary men deployed in
strike-bound Lepanto mines
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat