Sugarcane trucks attacked as Luisita resumes milling operations
News HACIENDA LUISITA — While milling operations in this sugar central were resumed back to “normal” late last Monday, sugarcane planters have opted to transport their harvests instead to a small sugar refinery in Pampanga due to “guerilla-style” harassments being carried out by militants on their trucks and personnel.

The management of the Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI) and the Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT) disclosed on Tuesday morning that most of the sugarcane planters here in Tarlac, as well as in Pampanga, Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan, and those elsewhere in Central and Northern Luzon, have expressed fear of more losses after some of the protesters who locked out the refinery here during the weekend turned “more violent and destructive.”

The HLI is the corporate farming firm established here in the late 1980s that oversees all of the operations in the 6,000-hectare estate, and “co-owned” by the family of former President Corazon Aquino and their more than 5,000 farmworkers who are land reform beneficiaries under the stock distribution option of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

The CAT, on the other hand, is the firm that operates the sugar mill here.

The milling operations here were shutdown around noontime last Saturday after more than 20 members of the CAT Labor Union (CATLU) manning the boiler division walked out of their posts and barricade the factory’s Gate 2. Without the steam from the boiler, the refinery could not produce sugar.

Members of the United Luisita Workers’ Union (ULWU) then simultaneously blocked the factory’s Gate 1.

The CATLU represents the 768 workforce of the refinery, while the ULWU is the recognized labor group of the farmworkers.

An hour before the mass actions – which was reinforced by militants from the radical groups Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Nagkakaisang Manggagawa ng Tarlac (NMT), Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Tarlac (NMT), League of Filipino Students and Anakbayan – some 20 hectares of sugarcane field in Barangay Murcia in Concepcion town, which is also within this sprawling estate, were set on fire by armed men suspected of being guerillas of the communist-led New People’s Army (NPA).

TRUCK TIRES DEFLATED

According to management officials, shortly after the mill’s operations were resumed last Monday, a number of trucks loaded with newly-cut sugarcane sticks being transported to the sugar refinery here were waylaid by some of the protesters and punctured the vehicles’ tires with pointed objects.

They said that even during the height of the mass actions last Saturday and Sunday, the tires of sugarcane trucks that were stranded along the road leading to the refinery were similarly deflated.

Because of this, sugarcane planters and owners of the trucks have decided to instead bring their harvests to the Sweet Crystals Integrated Sugar Mills Corp., a small refinery located in Barangay Planas in Porac town, Pampanga.

Management said that the affected sugarcane planters fear that “trouble-makers” may set some of the trucks on fire, although it assured that the CAT’s milling operations were indeed already “back to normal.”

Related to this, some protesters backed by activists also reportedly setup a “checkpoint” along a portion of this estate’s main road in Barangay Balete, where some factory employees intending to go to work were allegedly being turned away.

Because of these incidents, the HLI’s private security force had to deploy some of its personnel to escort workers and sugarcane trucks going to and from the sugar refinery.

Management has claimed that majority of the CATLU members wanted to report for work, even as they were demanding from their president, Ricardo Ramos, clarification on their group’s stand on the mass actions.

Although Ramos reportedly denied having any knowledge about the protest actions, he was seen to be among the ULWU protesters.

SOLDIERS WITHDRAW

Despite these developments, the Armed Forces’ Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) decided to withdraw soldiers from the Army’s 69th Infantry Battalion back to their barracks, even as the regional police office in Camp Olivas in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga also pulled out the reinforcements it earlier dispatched.

Lt. Col. Preme Monta, Nolcom spokesman, said they have assessed that the hostilities caused by the mass actions staged by some members of the CATLU and the ULWU have “already subsided.”

Monta added that Nolcom commanding officer, Lt. Gen. Romeo Dominguez, even ordered for the withdrawal from this estate of the AFP’s Civil Disturbance Unit.

Monta said that about 50 policemen from the province remained stationed here to provide backup to the management’s security force, while 69th IB soldiers had to maintain “alert status” in one of their detachments in this plantation.

ONLY A PICKET?

Rene Galang, who was among the 327 farmworkers laid off last October by the HLI and subsequently ousted as ULWU president, said that they will continue to hold their protest activities, which he claimed were only limited to setting up a picket near the factory’s Gate 1.

The HLI has refused to recognize Galang’s leadership in the ULWU, as he was already replaced last month by Ronaldo Alcantara following his ouster, and that of nine other union officials.

CATLU has been on a deadlock in its collective bargaining agreement (CBA) talks with the CAT, as the union was demanding for a P100 wage hike and P30,000 signing bonus for each of its members. Management said that it can only provide a P12 salary increase and a P12,000 bonus.

CATLU did file a notice of strike prior to the mass action, but this was not subjected to a vote among its members, claimed the management.

Management said that charges are being prepared to be filed against the CATLU members who joined the mass actions.

CLASHES

At least two rounds of skirmishes between the rallyists and anti-riot policemen took place during the weekend, the first at around 6 p.m. Saturday, while the second was before the break of dawn Sunday.

Rally leaders blamed the police for the skirmishes, but authorities said that it was the rallyists who provoked the conflict when lawmen were attacked with stones, pillbox and Molotov cocktail bombs, as well as teargas canisters.

The protesters were pacified with water cannons, as it was learned Monday morning that among those hurt during the confrontations was Superintendent Rudy Lacadin, police chief of Tarlac City.

One 18-year-old Joey Baldeviano, of Barangay Balete, was rushed to a nearby hospital in Tarlac City due to first degree burns after he accidentally stepped on exploded pillboxes and Molotov cocktail bombs.

RADICAL SOLONS URGE FOR MORE PROTESTS

Meanwhile, two radical solons, sectoral Reps. Crispin Beltran and Rafael Mariano, both of the militant Anakpawis party-list group, urged the CAT employees, farmworkers and villagers here to continue with the demonstrations.

In separate statements, they both said that although the HLI has regarded the labor lockout as “illegal,” the protesters’ demands were “just, legitimate and reasonable.”

Aside from a new “just” CBA with CATLU and wage increases, as well as the reinstatement of the retrenched farmworkers, Mariano said that the other demands included the payment of the CAT workers’ two-month gratuity, moratorium in the layoff of field personnel, and immediate economic relief to the dismissed farmworkers’ families.

The Anakpawis solons added that the stock option scheme here should now be abolished in favor of land distribution, the farmworkers’ right to land in this estate should be “recognized” by the government, conversion of sugarcane fields for commercial use should be stopped, and that all troops positioned here should be withdrawn by the Nolcom, with their detachments dismantled to put an end to “militarization.”

Beltran also heads the militant labor group, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), while Mariano is the leader of the Left-leaning Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP). NMT is affiliated with the KMU, while the AMT is allied with the KMP.

The violent mass actions came as the sugar refinery here, the biggest in Luzon, went full swing in its operations for this year’s milling season.

The HLI has been claiming to have sustained operational losses amounting to P215.11 million in 2002 and P165.49 million last year.

Posted on Tuesday, November 09 @ 09:18:32 HKT