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Striking Lepanto workers get SP support

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet (Aug. 16) — The Lepanto Emloyees Union (LEU) this week found allies in the Benguet Sangguniang Panlalawigan in the resolution of the labor dispute in Mankayan, Benguet. The strike is on its third month.

LEU appealed in a special session on August 15 for the SP to pass a resolution for the pullout of the Philippine National Police deployed in the area following the Assumption of Jurisdiction order on May 10. The union also asked the Benguet legislators to pass a resolution to pullout the Army unit recently deployed in the area. They also pleaded for a resolution to request the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) to issue a supplemental order with regard to the reinstatement of all dismissed union officers and members and to reverse its decision deputizing the PNP to intervene in the labor dispute.

The said appeals arose as a result of the company’s stance not to reinstate the 19 officers for allegedly spearheading the strike. LEU Spokesperson Ronald Maslian reiterated that it was the union’s decision from the start to strike due to the deadlock in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations, a manifested in their Strike Vote Referendum (SVR) last May.

The SP clarified issues with Maslian and Board of Directors member Julio Papat on the human rights violations perpetrated against the union. Maslian reported that there were 15 violent dispersals since June 17, adding that the PNP dispersed mostly at dawn, a vulnerable time at the picket lines.

Although presiding officer and Vice Governor Cresencio Pacalzo likened the union and the management as both children of Benguet, he expressed the assurance that the SP will do everything to help in the peaceful resolution of the labor dispute.

Police Supt. Villamor Bumanglag confirmed that the early morning dispersals (from 2 AM to 5:30 AM, according to LEU) were intentional because during the day, community women join the workers in the picket lines, which makes it harder for the PNP to disperse the workers.

Aside from the PNP deployment, the Philippine Army has dispatched a battalion near the Lepanto mining site following reports that members of the New People’s Army were seen in the area.

The SP met with Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMCo) Board of Directors Chair Felipe Yap in Makati last week in an effort to convince the management to address the workers’ demands, but Yap refused. He also stressed that Lepanto will not change its stance on the non-reinstatement of the union officers.

The SP scheduled an inquiry last August 18 with the union, PNP’s Col. Gaab, Lepanto’s Atty. Weldy Manlong and Company Security Force Chief Wilhelm Doromal to verify the HRVs raised by the workers, but only the LEU representatives appeared before the SP. The inquiry was reset on August 22.

The union conducted a prayer-rally on August 20 as an expression of their solidarity as workers and their solidarity with the Church.

Meanwhile, the Chadli Molintas Commnd of the NPA said in a statement that while it supports the struggle of the Lepanto workers, mankayan farmers and the communities along the Abra River, it does not allow its units to join or interfere with the worker’s strike in any manner.

“The AFP and tha PNP should be the one to cease and desist from interfering with the workers’ strike,” the CMC statement stated as it called on the striking workers “to guard against military and police agents-provocateurs who will try to infiltrate the strike, and provike the military to shoot and kill, and sabotage the strike.” # Abigail T. Bengwayan for NORDIS

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