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Lawyers tell Lepanto: give workers’ demands

BAGUIO CITY (Aug. 6) — To add to their source of sustenance amid their two-month strike, Lepanto workers tried to withdraw their deposits and file loan applications with Lepanto Savings and Loan Association (LSLA). Their applications, however, were denied for no valid reasons yet, prompting Baguio lawyers to assist the workers.

Lawyers Mary Ann Bayang, Thomas Bayugan, and Cheryl Daytec-Yangot called on the officers of the Lepanto Savings and Loan Association (LSLA) to allow Lepanto Employees Union (LEU) members to withdraw their deposits or transact a loan. Some of the workers intended to withdraw their deposits but the LSLA said that it was having cash flow problems.

In a letter to LSLA President Steve Pomeg-as and Manager Nida Kiat-ong, the lawyers asked why the LSLA suddenly had “liquidity problems” which it never encountered in the past, especially at the height of the strike.

“Assuming that the LSLA can deny loan applications, it cannot, however, refuse the release of the members’ deposits”, the lawyers said, adding that “to some of your members, the hand of Lepanto management in the denial by the LSLA of their loan applications and the withholding of their deposits is too visible to be ignored”.

“The members knocking on your door for loan or release of deposits are human beings no different from you and us. Like us, they must eat to survive, and so must their children and families”, they said.

The lawyers said that it is at this time when the LSLA can show its members that it can be depended upon. Lastly, the lawyers appealed to the LSLA not to “fall into the temptation of taking instructions from Lepanto management”.

These lawyers, including Atty. Randy Kinaud of the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA), facilitated the release of the 19 workers who were arrested and detained last month by the Philippine National Police (PNP) without any clear violation. # AT Bengwayan for NORDIS

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