Phil.Daily Inquirer First Posted 16:55:00 12/11/2008
CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna -- A labor leader was arrested after a picket staged by Nestlé Philippines workers in Cabuyao, Laguna was dispersed twice early Thursday morning, police said.
In a phone interview, Superintendent Moises Pagaduan, Cabuyao police chief, confirmed the arrest of Noel Alemania, vice president of the Union of Filipino Employees and deputy secretary general of the Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan (Pamantik, Unity of Workers in Southern Tagalog). Pagaduan said at least 52 workers staged what he described as an illegal picket at the front gate of Nestlé Philippines .
"There had been attempts for peaceful negotiations for workers to leave before the police dispersed the protesters at around 2:30 a.m. ," he said.
"The police asked us to move to the side and we did. But just after a few minutes, we were dispersed with [water] cannons," the 43-year-old Alemania said.
He said most of the workers were elderly and weak.
"We were already 100 meters away from where we originally picketed but they still fired water at us," Alemania said.
The labor group reported two incidents of dispersal -- the first at about 1:15 a.m. , and then at 2:30 a.m.
It said there were about 100 heavily armed elements of the Calabarzon ( Cavite , Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) police Regional Mobile Group and Cabuyao police.
Alemania was taken to the Biñan Regional Trial Court Thursday morning for inquest on charges of illegal assembly, alarm and scandal, and resisting arrest.
Hermie Marasigan, spokesman of Pamantik, said the workers staged the protest to assert a November 28 order by the Department of Labor for Nestlé Philippines to return to negotiations for their collective bargaining agreement.
He said they would hold an indignation rally tonight in Cabuyao to condemn the dispersal and Alemania’s arrest.
At around 1 p.m. Thursday, Alemania was brought back to the Cabuyao police station pending a temporary release order to be signed by the provincial prosecutor.
A preliminary investigation is scheduled on January 9 next year, Marasigan said.
Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan-Kilusang Mayo Uno PAMANTIK-KMU (Solidarity of Workers in Southern Tagalog-May First Movement) NEWS 4 December 2008 Reference: Marlon Torres Public Information Office Mobile No: +63.9089114936 Nestle workers arrest intel operatives
Protesting Nestle workers, under Union of Filipro Employees (UFE-DFA-KMU), arrested and turned over to police two (2) intelligence operatives following and threatening them from Cabuyao, Laguna to Intramuros, Manila today. The operatives were cornered parked near Pamantasan ng Lunsod ng Maynila at around 2:30 PM while surveilling a few meters from the Nestle workers’ activity in front of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) in Intramuros. One of the operatives, wearing a cream polo shirt with embroidered Nestle logo, was identified as Ferdinand C. Dimayuga of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Deltacom-Technical Information Unit. The other, when asked, introduced himself as Arnold Arcia, but different on the ID he presented. The two were turned over by the workers to the police, under Col. Aznar and Lt.Cresencio Viray of the Manila Police District (MPD), stationed at DoLE. Lt.Viray told to the leaders of the workers,"di katalo,kabaro din namin pero mga intel" they are from our ranks but from the intelligence group. Nestle workers spotted the two operatives aboard a green tinted Toyota Revo, with plate number WHK 136, in front of Gate 2 at Nestle factory in Cabuyao at about 8:16 AM, shortly before 79 workers and their families took off for a protest delegation to the Department of Labor and Employment in Intramuros, Manila. Francisco Barundia, one of the union officers said, “Sinundan kami ng mga intel mula sa planta sa Cabuyao. Pagdating sa South expressway, tinapatan nila ang tatlong jeep na convoy namin. Maraming beses na ibinababa nila ang bintana sa kanan at iwinawagayway sa amin ang isang kalibre 45 baril. (The intelligence operatives followed us from Nestle Cabuyao factory. Upon reaching South Luzon Expressway, they were passing by our convoy of 3 jeepneys. In many occasions, they would lower the right side window and wave to our view a 45-calibre gun.)”
“Police protection”
The police and the workers brought the arrested operatives to the MPD General Assignment Section (GAS) at around 3:20 PM. “Ang problema, pagdating sa MPD, hindi agad pinapasok ang dalawang operatiba sa GAS. Bagkus, ang imbestigador at isang pulis ang pumasok sa loob ng Revo. Kaduda-duda kung anuman ang ginawa at pinag-usapan nila doon. (Problem is, upon reaching MPD, the two operatives were not immediately taken to GAS. Instead, an investigator and a police got into the Revo. It is suspicious whatever they did and discussed.),” said Reynaldo Batitis, union board officer. After the talks in the Revo, Batitis added that only Dimayuga was presented to GAS. His companion’s identity was still unverified. Acting union president Noel Alemania expressed, “This is not the only incident where our legitimate protests to DoLE were being irked by saboteurs and possible assassins.” Alemania reported that four unidentified men used the same Toyota Revo and tailed them to Manila on November 27. Earlier, on November 18, the workers spotted men aboard a black Toyota Altis with plate no.XNT-347 from Cabuyao to Intramuros. “However, the PNP itself is protecting the identity of these possible killers,” said Alemania.
Who would castigate the violator? Meanwhile, Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan (PAMANTIK-KMU) expressed condemnation over the recent threat to Nestle workers. Romeo Legaspi, PAMANTIK chairperson said, “This out-and-out threat, intimidation, and harassment by hired intelligence operatives and assassins prove Nestle management’s underhand moves to silence the legitimate demands of workers, aside from trashing out the workers’ hard-earned legal achievements.” The Nestle management’s refusal to include the Retirement Plan in the negotiations for collective bargaining agreement (CBA) prompted the union to strike since January 14, 2002. The Supreme Court validated the Retirement Plan as a legitimate bargaining issue in 1991. In 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that the Nestle management and union return to negotiating table to settle the CBA. The management, however, refused to comply with the highest court’s order.
“It must always be remembered that Nestle left a trail of blood in the long years of its trade union repression. Two Nestle Cabuyao union presidents have been killed, namely Meliton Roxas and Diosdado Fortuna, that shamed the ‘good food, good life’ dictum of multinational Nestle. Its market shares cannot cover its tarnished international reputation as a union buster and butcher, including the killing of a unionist from Nestle Colombia in 2005,” continued Legaspi. “Nestle management’s influential role in trampling the country’s legal system, coupled with its moves of intimidation, threat and killings, is not in the slightest means different from the operations of the US-Arroyo regime in suppressing and persecuting leaders and activists of legitimate people’s organizations thru Oplan Bantay Laya II.” Legaspi is one of the 72 Southern Tagalog leaders and activists facing arrest warrants on charges of multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder for the killing of PNP elements in an alleged ambush by New People’s Army in Mindoro Oriental. Legaspi concluded, “Who would reprimand a gross human rights violator such as Nestle, when the government itself persecutes and kills its own people?
