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KMU tells Lepanto: Don’t distort issue at hand

On the 6th week of strike

BAGUIO CITY (July 15) — The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU)-Cordillera denied allegations by the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMCo) that it has been using children as “human shields” at the Mill Site picketline during the 6th week of the strike in Mankayan, Benguet, and called on management not to “distort the issue at hand”.

“We never use children as human barricades. I advise the management of the company not to distort the issue at hand. It is them who commanded the PNP to sow terror and use violence against the picketers and their families,” said KMU Spokesperson James Tulipa.

“If there were youths and children in the picketlines, it only shows that the struggle is not only for the aggrieved workers, but also a family matter,” he added.

In a letter to Mankayan Mayor Manalo Galuten and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Timpuyog dagiti Babbai iti Minasan a Lepanto (TBML) explained that the children were not at all used as human barricades at the Mill Site picketline.

“The worker’s picket area is near the bunkhouses, where workers and families live. At the time of dispersal, pupils and students were already home and they witnessed the ruthless dispersal of the Philippine National Police led by Major Madiaco. As a normal reaction of children who saw their parents being dragged by PNP, they ran to their parents, and cried to the PNP not hurt them,” the letter read.

TBML members said that at this time, a person hired by the company took pictures of the children which were later submitted to the DSWD under the pretext that the children were being used as “human shields”.

“Our children are aware of what happened to their fathers (19 workers) who were forced and illegally detained by the PNP at the Mankayan Municipal Jail last July 2, which motivated our children to support this struggle in all forms,” TBML members said.

The TBML also denied the company’s allegation that there are children at the other picket lines.

“If the management saw participation from the youth in the rallies here, it is because they understand the situation their fathers are in, and their loyalty is to their parents who are fighting for just wages and benefits despite harassment and intimidation by the PNP and company management,” the TBML said in a statement.

Continuing dispersals

Workers at the Mill Site area were dispersed on July 2, around 4:30 p.m., where some 100 PNP elements confiscated tents, food supplies, some of the workers’ belongings such as pots and chairs.

On July 15, at the same picket area, the PNP dispersed workers to make way for the entry of supplies. The workers, however, were able to frustrate the entry by staying put in the picktline.

In an emailed statement, KMU denounced the use of violence, illegal arrest and detention, harassment and the use of the PNP to escort the entry of scabs and supplies. # via NORDIS

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