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Thursday, November 18, 2004
Central Luzon, Tarlac cops relieved over farm clash
By Chris Navarro
CAMP OLIVAS -- Acting on President Arroyo's directive, PNP Chief Edgardo Aglipay ordered Wednesday the relief of top police officers in Central Luzon and Tarlac Province.
Arroyo's instruction came in the heels of Tuesday's bloody dispersal of 6,000 striking workers of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac, a sugar refinery owned by the family of former President Corazon C. Aquino.
President Arroyo had ordered that police and soldiers involved in a clash with striking workers of the sugar mill, part of the vast Hacienda Luisita plantation, be replaced.
The incident left at least four persons dead.
Aglipay, in response, relieved and reassigned Chief Supt. Quirino dela Torre, Police Regional Office-Central Luzon chief, and Sr. Supt. Angelo Sunglao, Tarlac provincial police director, to other posts pending an investigation into whether security forces overreacted.
The relief order came as a surprise to dela Torre and Sunglao and to other police officers in Central Luzon.
They said the relief order did not follow due process, adding that there should have been an investigation into the incident first.
Dela Torre has only assumed the PRO 3 directorship post for two months while Sunglao has been the provincial director of Tarlac for less than a year.
Arroyo said she was "deeply saddened" by the clash Tuesday that also left dozens wounded. She appealed to workers and management of Central Azucarera to exercise "prudence and sobriety".
"Unless extremely provoked to take armed defensive measures, all law enforcers are bound to the rule of maximum tolerance," Arroyo said in a statement.
Police spokesman Leopoldo Bataoil said four workers were confirmed dead, but strike leaders said as many as seven were fatally shot.
The discrepancy couldn't be immediately reconciled.
Regional Red Cross administrator Luciano Paras said more than 70 people were treated at hospitals for gunshots, other wounds and tear gas inhalation.
He said residents told him that scores more were injured but opted for treatment at home.
In a statement, Aquino expressed sympathy for those killed and wounded and called for prayers to end the conflict.
She said the violence "has led to the paralyzation of economic activity both in the farm and the sugar mill, affecting the lives of thousands."
Trouble started Monday when police clashed with workers demanding a 100-peso increase on their 193-peso daily wage.
They also demanded reinstatement of more than 300 colleagues laid off in August, including the union's president, vice president and seven board members.
The violence escalated Tuesday when a military armored vehicle tried to smash through the steel gates of the sugar mill and police fired tear gas at the strikers, said Leonardo Pingol, whose three sons were among the protesters, but were unhurt.
The strikers responded by raining stones on the armored vehicle, forcing it to withdraw, when police gunfire broke out, he said.
"When the police saw that the people were capturing back the gate, they opened fire," he said. "They were firing their guns at the strikers. I saw bullets whizzing by and hitting the concrete road near us."
Rene Galang, president of the United Luisita Workers Union, claimed at least six workers and a relative of one of the workers were killed.
He said he hid in a nearby cane field "because they were targeting me."
Six police officers--including Sr. Supt. Abelardo Villacorta, chief of the regional operation plan division, Chief Insp. Josie Tibuk of Pampanga, and Insp. Ferdinand Flores of Bataan--were among those injured in the clash.
Workers allegedly threw stones at them.
An ABS-CBN cameraman identified as Pol Viray was hit in the face by a rock and was rushed to a nearby hospital.
Police and strike leaders said about 100 people were detained at a police camp.
It was unclear which side started the clash but investigators said the fatalities were killed by bullets from a .22 caliber pistol and M-16 Armalite rifle.
But Joey Romasanta, vice president for Hacienda Luisita, in a statement Tuesday blamed the violence on the unions who he said "ignored the order not to commit any acts to exacerbate the situation."
About 700 workers are employed by the sugar mill and more than 5,000 people work on the 6,000-hectare hacienda owned by the family of former President Aquino.
In the late 1980s, hacienda owners distributed stock certificates to farm workers instead of expropriating their property to avoid being covered by a land reform law.
(November 18, 2004 issue)
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