HACIENDA LUISITA — Protesting laborers and farm workers here, joined by their respective families and reinforced by militant activists, have practically taken control over nearly all movements in this sprawling sugar estate owned by the family of former President Corazon Aquino.
Full story...
Luisita resumes milling operations as tension eases
HACIENDA LUISITA — Tension has somewhat eased in this 6,000-hectare sugar plantation, as the ranks of the protesters who locked up the refinery during the weekend have thinned out, allowing the Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT) to resume its milling operations noontime Monday.
Full story...
Truck attacks force Luisita mill closure anew
HACIENDA LUISITA — The “violent and destructive” actions being carried out by alleged “troublemakers” among the ranks of protesters here has forced Luzon’s biggest sugar mill to shutdown anew its operations Tuesday morning, after these were briefly resumed around noontime last Monday.
Full story...
7-month long Rabbit strike ends
TARLAC CITY — The almost seven-month long strike in one of the country’s oldest transport company finally came to an end, as the Philippine Rabbit Bus Lines (PRBL) commenced plying major routes from Metro Manila to Central and Northern Luzon again.
Subic allows FedEx to operate ecozone hub until 2013
TARLAC CITY — The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has recently decided to extend the lease contract of air courier giant, the Federal Express (FedEx), up to August 2010.
Int’l media watchdog: RP hostile for journalists
TARLAC CITY — Although the country has a “free and lively press,” the Philippines has been counted by the Paris-based international media watchdog as one of the places most hostile to journalists.
Countdown for 2005
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The Tarlac Headlines News Central displays all the news of our latest issues.
Nov. 1 - 31, 2004
Luisita strikers to Cory family: Ditch ‘bogus’ union leaders
HACIENDA LUISITA — Striking mill workers and farmworkers demanded the management here to stop recognizing the “self-proclaimed, bogus presidents” of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU) and the United Luisita Workers’ Union (ULWU).
This, Ricardo Ramos and Rene Galang, the respective elected presidents of CATLU and ULWU, said with regards their rivals, as they accused the family of former President Corazon Aquino of “duplicity” in having earlier declared that it was still willing to negotiate with the two unions to peacefully settle the protracted labor dispute here.
One Jesus Fino was being introduced before Manila-based mediamen by some CAT officials as the “new” CATLU head.
On the other hand, the corporate affairs office of the Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI) repeatedly said in previous press statements that Galang has been replaced by a certain Ronaldo Alcantara as ULWU president, owing to the former’s inclusion among the 327 farmworkers dismissed by the company last Oct. 1.
Ramos said that Fino was “delusional” in usurping the CATLU leadership.
Meanwhile, Galang said that “nobody in the ULWU believes Alcantara and his fellow scalawags, and they do not even have a following.”
It was last Nov. 6 when the two labor groups first staged a strike here, crippling the operations of Luzon’s biggest sugar mill.
Tragedy struck the demonstrations when a combined anti-riot force of more than 1,000 policemen and soldiers implemented Labor Sec. Patricia Sto. Tomas’ order to have the picketline at the CAT’s Gate 1 dismantled, as seven strikers were confirmed to have been killed by sniper fires, while more than a hundred others were injured, and exactly 111 were detained.
Up to now, members of the two unions continue to lock up the refinery here, as the managements of the CAT and HLI has yet to address their demands.
CATLU was in a deadlock in its collective bargaining agreement (CBA) talks with management, as the union was demanding a P100 salary increase and a P30,000 signing bonus for each of its members. The CAT said it can only extend a P12 wage hike, and a P12,000 bonus.
ULWU, on the other hand, was protesting the mass layoff of 327 farmworkers, and asking the HLI to resume CBA negotiations that were stalled when Galang and nine other union officers were included among those who were dismissed last Oct. 1.
DEAD BODY
Meanwhile, investigators from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Tarlac police were thrown in a quandary late Thursday when a decomposing body of a farmer was found in Barangay Sta. Monica in Concepcion town, which is at the southeastern outskirts of this sprawling plantation.
A fact-finding team of human rights activists that has been conducting its own inquiry into the Nov. 16 incident here was similarly alarmed by this, as Emil Paragas, spokesman for Tarlac of the group, Karapatan, claimed that at least seven other fatalities of the tragedy here remained unaccounted for, as well as about 40 other seasonal tabaseros (sugarcane cutters) from the Visayas and Mindanao.
But authorities were able to identify the body found in Barangay Sta. Monica as that of one Virgilio Del Rosario, 44, of Peñaranda town in Nueva Ecija. The victim had gunshot wounds, and was bound with packaging tapes.
It was gathered that Del Rosario, along with his fellow farmer, one Melencio Garcia, went missing last Nov. 22 after they were snatched by still unidentified men.
CONDEMNATIONS
Condemnation on the Nov. 16 violence here continued until Friday.
In a statement, the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) said that the police anti-riot contingent “clearly broke protocol by disregarding the ‘maximum tolerance’ principle.”
It added that the deployment by the Armed Forces’ Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) of soldiers from the Army’s 69th Infantry Battalion in backing up the police contingent was “questionable,” as the dispersal operation then was “a civilian matter, and is totally beyond the jurisdiction of the military.”
“Heads must roll,” demanded PAHRA.
The left-leaning party-list group, Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), joined its rival in Congress, the radical Anakpawis, in lamenting the incident, as it noted that Sto. Tomas, who ordered the dispersal, “remains untouched.”< br>
Other groups outside the league of mainstream Left-leaning organizations under the wing of Anakpawis and its sister party-list groups, Bayan Muna and Gabriela, as well as the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Kilusang Mayo Uno and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, that registered their outrage over the incident here were the Manggagawa para sa Kalayaan ng Bayan (Makabayan), National Confederation of Labor (NCL), Federation of Free Workes (FFW), Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), National Labor Movement-Katipunan, National Federation of Labor (NFL) and the United Federation of Sugar Workers (UFSW).
[back]
The Hacienda Luisita Tragedy[Full story...]Hacienda Luisita: A tragedy on Ninoy’s 72nd birthday[Full story...]Ka Roger claims NPA ‘military contacts’ say Luisita massacre was premeditated[Full story...]The village that OFW remittances built[Full story...]Protesters take control of Hacienda Luisita[Full story...]Luisita resumes milling operations as tension eases[Full story...]Truck attacks force Luisita mill closure anew[Full story...]Reds, Church group back Luisita protests[Full story...]Tarlac dads help in averting violence at Luisita[Full story...]Subic allows FedEx to operate ecozone hub until 2013[Full story...]
Int’l media watchdog: RP hostile for journalists[Full story...]
Reds: ‘GMA is ripe for ousting’[Full story...]
General Yano outlines new CRSAFP thrust[Full story...]
