Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) secretary general Danilo Ramos said that more sacadas or migratory sugar workers filed yesterday complaints of abuse against their recruiters and employers, Greenhand Labor Service Cooperative, Agrikulto Inc., and Central Azucarera de Tarlac.
Ramos said his group, together with the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL) and the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and BAYAN-Central Luzon staged the picket-protest in front of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) of DOLE “in support of Mindanao sacadas exploited in Hacienda Luisita.”
“The picket coincided with the first hearing of labor complaints initially fi led at the NLRC by 36 sacadas before leaving for Mindanao,” he noted.
In a statement, however, Greenhand Labor Service Cooperative, the recruitment agency responsible for bringing the workers to Tarlac, denied the charges against them.
“It is totally untrue that their living conditions are inadequate. We have four buildings with good running water and continuous electricity for everyone,” explained Greenhand general manager Billy Baitus.
“In fact, DOLE Regional Office 3 has approved and given us a Certificate of Adequate Temporary Dwelling Facility for those four buildings,” the statement said.
But Ramos recalled that “52 sacadas recruited from Bukidnon province were earlier rescued by UMA and its local affi liate, OGYON or Onyon sa Yanong Obrerong Nagkahiusa during the Christmas holidays.”
“On January 15, another 18 individuals – including women and infant children – escaped from slave-like conditions in Hacienda Luisita. They were also recruited by Greenhand from different Mindanao provinces – Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, South Cotabato and Compostela Valley,” he said. The 18 also filed yesterday abuse cases against the same respondents.
Ramos noted that “the new batch of sacadas corroborated earlier testimonies that there were 800 to 1,000 sacadas cramped into a bunkhouse in Mapalacsiao, Hacienda Luisita to cut and haul cane for Agrikulto Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the sugar mill Central Azucarera de Tarlac.”
They were paid only P9.46 per day of work that lasted into the night, on top of the requirement for them to purchase their own tools, contrary to attractive wages promised them during the recruitment process, he reported.
The sugar mill at the hacienda is now jointly owned by the Cojuangco-Aquinos and Martin Lorenzo, a scion of the Lorenzo landlord family of Mindanao.
Meanwhile, OGYON secretary general Fructuoso Carpentero said more complaints were also filed last Monday by 18 sacadas before the NLRC in Malaybalay, Bukidnon. The complainants were among those who “escaped” from Hacienda Luisita even before UMA came to their rescue, he said.
No one among the respondents could immediately be reached.
