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For the past 17 years, The Filipino Express has provided the Filipino American community the best news, arts and entertainment coverage from around the United States and the Philippines.
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Chaos erupts as riot police move in to disperse the rally of workers in Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac. The workers were demanding better wages and the reinstatement of laid-off colleagues. Above, a worker uses a slingshot to fight back. At least eight workers were reported killed.
(MNSwirephoto)
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MANILA, November 19, 2004 --- Fourteen striking workers were killed and at least 100 others wounded in a clash with soldiers and policemen on Tuesday at the Cojuangco family-owned Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, provincial officials said.
The clash erupted when about a thousand soldiers and policemen in a 12-truck convoy led by two armored carriers tried to break through a picket manned by strikers. It was not clear if the soldiers and policemen were dispatched by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
It was also not explained why soldiers were involved in the enforcement of the department’s order.
One the provincial officials, who asked he not be named for fear of getting into trouble with the politically powerful Cojuangcos, said an influential member of the family called in the Army.
Among the prominent members of the family are former President Corazon Aquino, her son Tarlac Rep. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, her brother former Tarlac Rep. Jose Cojuangco Jr. and the latter’s wife, Margarita “Tingting” Cojuangco, who is an undersecretary in the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano, in a privileged speech delivered a couple of hours after the clash, listed only three fatalities, one of whom was named as Bong Versola. He said three members of the PNP and the AFP were also wounded.
The higher casualty figures were reported by sources later in the night.
The strike started on Oct. 6 when members of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU) barricaded the factory’s Gate 2 while members of the Luisita Workers’ Union (UWLU) locked Gate 1.
CATLU’s collective bargaining agreement with the hacienda hit a deadlock as the union had demanded a P100 a day salary increase and a P30,000 signing bonus for each member.
The management’s counter-offer was a P12 wage hike and a P12,000 bonus. The CATLU represents workers in the sugar mill.
The UWLU, which represents the hacienda’s 5,000 farm workers, was demanding the reinstatement of 327 workers who were laid off in Oct. 1, including its president Rene Galang and vice president Ildefonso Pingul.
Mariano sought a congressional investigation. “We condemn in the strongest possible terms the deployment of war machines and military personnel in Hacienda Luisita. It has totally shut down the doors for a peaceful resolution to the intensifying crisis in the hacienda,” he said.
“This act by the Cojuangcos is very alarming because this could eventually lead to the repeat of former President Aquino’s legacy to farmers and farm workers - the infamous Mendiola and Lupao massacres,” he added.
At least 13 farmer-protesters were killed on Jan. 22, 1987 in Mendiola. Seventeen farmers were killed on Feb. 10 of the same year in Lupao, Nueva Ecija, on suspicion they were rebels.
Noynoy Aquino III, a deputy speaker, said he supported Mariano’s proposed investigation.
“We condemn the violence that happened but condemnation should be directed to the right party,” Rep. Aquino said.
He said the striking workers make up just a fraction of hacienda workers. He said 400 of the 736 strikers had climbed the walls of the mill to report for work in compliance with the labor department’s order.
All sides liable
All parties involved in the violent dispersal of the picket line at Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac could be held criminally liable for the deaths and injuries of the striking workers, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said a careful investigation has to be made on the incident which he described as a “tumultuous affray,” according to the Revised Penal Code.
“You don’t know the exact perpetrator but only the group. You cannot identify who delivered the fatal blow, so everybody (in the group suspected to have caused the deaths and injuries) will be charged,” Gonzalez said.
He said the police can be charged criminally for resorting to excessive use of force even as the military was called in to assist in peacekeeping.
“But we also have to consider if the victims (themselves) provoked the incident by taunting and agitating (the police),” he said.
Gonzalez noted the presence of “mitigating circumstances” in the incident because there was “passion and obfuscation” on both sides.
On the other hand, the police director of Central Luzon and the provincial commander of Tarlac have been relieved of their posts in the aftermath of the riot.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Edgar Aglipay ordered the relief of Director Quirino de la Torre as Central Luzon police chief and Tarlac police provincial commander Sr. Supt. Angel Sunglao “to pave the way for a thorough investigation.”
Police and soldiers involved in the clash would also be rotated out and replaced with a fresh contingent that would exercise “maximum tolerance” on the striking workers, officials said.
Reports reaching the operations center of the Central Luzon PNP at Camp Olivas in Pampanga said the dead were all civilians, some of them apparently hit by stray bullets.
Among the identified fatalities were Juancho Sanchez, John David, Jess Laza, Jaime Pastidio and Adriano Caballero.
The workers on the 6,000-hectare estate launched a strike after more than 300 farmhands were laid off and separate negotiations between management and the sugar mill union broke down.
The 4,500 strikers reportedly refused a government order to return to work. The standoff turned into a pitched battle when soldiers and policemen arrived to enforce the “return-to-work” order issued by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
Labor and Employment Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas had claimed the strike was illegal as the union did not comply with a required “cooling off” period.
An official of the striking United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU), Jose Romero, said the dead included two children who choked on the tear gas fired by anti-riot policemen.
He said some residents who sympathized with the strikers had brought their children to the picket line.
Romero accused the police of starting the violence, saying “they were shooting at us, using automatic fire.”
He claimed he was even hit and kicked by policemen while he was ducking to avoid gunfire.
ULWU president Rene Galang also claimed a three-month-old infant died of asphyxiation inside a shanty when it was hit by a tear gas canister.
He said the baby’s father, whose identity could not yet be determined but was described to be a “sacada” from the Visayas working for Hacienda Luisita, also died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Galang claimed they were forced to fight back with sticks and stones after anti-riot policemen pounded their ranks with tear gas while an armored personnel carrier forced its way through their barricade.
Galang claimed the riot took place for about 40 minutes after protesters successfully repulsed the policemen.
But moments later, gunshots were heard, he said.
“The shooting erupted from everywhere,” Galang claimed, adding a number of protesters immediately fell to the ground.
Witnesses said gunfire lasted for nearly 10 minutes even as the strikers had already retreated while dragging the wounded among their ranks.
Galang added some witnesses even saw supposed snipers “positioned” in the buildings inside the sugar estateís factory compound and nearby sugarcane fields.
The military, through Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) spokesman Lt. Col. Preme Monta, confirmed there were reports that some snipers had been sighted but denied that they were from the government.
He said he was at the dispersal site at the time, positioned at the rear of the anti-riot force manning the government ambulances.
According to Monta, he saw “gunfire flashes” on top of about four trucks loaded with sugarcane sticks that were parked near the dispersal site.
When one of the policeís armored personnel carriers surged forward to where the gunshots were being fired, Monta claimed he saw several men scurrying away.
He said they recovered an M-16 rifle, a folding carbine and a caliber .38 revolver at the site.
Before his relief, De la Torre said he had ordered all the policemen involved in the riot to undergo paraffin and ballistic tests.
He claimed 10 policemen were injured during the clash.
Authorities had claimed the presence of “leftist instigators” who could have shot at the rallyists but protest leaders maintained government agents or security forces of Hacienda Luisita could be the snipers.
Gonzalez said an investigation over the incident should also focus on the possibility that other groups with a different agenda could have taken advantage of the situation.
“So both groups can be charged. (The Cojuangcos as owners) cannot be held liable unless proven they are the ones who ordered it (dispersal of the strikers),” Gonzalez said.
Noynoy Aquino III said there was strong evidence that the clash was triggered by gunfire coming from the ranks of the strikers.
He said when the police tried break the barricade using an armored personnel carrier, they were fired upon by the strikers. He cited there were at least eight bullet marks on the APC.
Aquino also urged his militant colleagues in Congress against conducting fact-finding missions at the Hacienda, which he said could further “inflame the situation.”
Aquino earlier claimed some outsiders instigated the rioting, citing that among those injured were sympathizers coming from as far as the Visayas.
Former Tarlac Rep. Jose Cojuangco Jr., brother of former President Corazon Aquino and head of the Cojuangco family, explained his sister did not have a say in the management of the company.
He said many of those laid off had accepted their retirement pay and only about 80 workers were actually taking part in the strike.
Cojuangco said the company was forced to lay off workers because low sugar prices had affected the firmís finances.
He also claimed the ranks of the striking workers had been swelled by outsiders brought in by militant labor groups.
But the striking workers led by Romero said that 2,000 employees were participating in the strike and thousands of local residents had joined the picket out of sympathy.
Romero said protests would continue, vowing, “We will still fight for our rights, especially after what happened here.”
Gonzalez reiterated the basic right of the workers to strike as part of the freedom of speech and assembly under labor laws, but this should be done peacefully and responsibly. (MNS)
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LAST RIDE. One of the photos of Roger Carciller taken on a bus tour.
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NEW YORK, November 19, 2004 --- A 61-year-old Filipino-American pilgrim, seeking a miracle cure for his kidney ailment, died hours after bathing in the spring water at the Grotto in Lourdes, France, last Saturday, according to the pilgrim’s surviving widow.
Roger Carciller, a retired machine operator, succumbed to a heart attack inside Hotel D’Espagne in Lourdes after complaining of chest pain. Emergency medical personnel there declared him dead on the scene at about 10:30 p.m. before he could be taken to the hospital.
Carciller’s wife, Florentina “Baby” Labalan Carciller, said her husband complained of chest pain at about 10 p.m. and she requested their tour manager to provide her husband with “oxygen” tank but her husband never recovered.
The Carcillers, of Seattle, Washington, were part of a busload of tourists from New York, Michigan, Florida and Washington organized by a Rhode Island-based Colette Vacation travel agency. They were on the penultimate leg of their four-nation, nine-day tour that would have taken them from Seattle to Amsterdam, Holland; Lisbon, Portugal; Burgos, Spain; Lourdes, France; and Barcelona, Spain.
The Carcillers were left behind in Lourdes while the rest of the 39 pilgrims proceeded to Barcelona.
“My husband was too scared to undergo dialysis treatment and insisted that we took a pilgrimage even on wheelchair to Lourdes in hopes of getting healed.” Florentina Carciller, 59, said. Her husband was diabetic and was suffering from fluid retention or “bloating,” experiencing abnormal accumulation of fluid in his lungs.
Roger Carciller is survived by his wife, Florentina; their children, Janette, 23, and Carla Irene, 22; and his lone sibling, Diosdado, of Cebu in the Philippines.
Interment services will be held on Nov. 20 at Holyrood Cemetery in Seattle, after a 10:30 a.m. Catholic Mass at St. James Cathedral.
The last known miracle cure declared authentic by the Catholic Church and the 66th such declaration at the Church of Lourdes was reported in 1999 when a 51-year-old man with multiple sclerosis, who was unable to walk and talk, recovered just hours after bathing in the famous miraculous springs in 1987.
Prior to 1987, the last miracle cure recognized by the Church of Lourdes was in 1976.
It was in 1858, when Bernadette Soubirous, a teen-aged girl from a poor miller’s family, had a vision of a lady at the Massabielle Grotto. The lady asked her to return each day for 15 days. On the last day, the lady told Bernadette to dig in the ground and a spring came forth. The lady requested the young girl to tell the local priest to build a church on this site. She then revealed herself to Bernadette as the Immaculate Conception.
Before the church was built, pilgrims of all faiths began to come to seek cures and spiritual solace at the Grotto as well as to partake of the healing waters.
Since then, thousands of people from all over the world each year visit Lourdes for physical cures and spiritual inspiration. Many pilgrims say that the overwhelming feeling of peace and love which pervades the atmosphere of this holy place does allow for miracles to unfold.
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San Francisco, CALIFORNIA, November 19, 2004 --- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has arrived here on Thursday for a two-day visit where she is expected to deliver a major policy statement on the future of RP-US relations following the recent electoral victory of US President George W. Bush.
The President, her husband Mike Arroyo and members of the Philippine delegation arrived at the San Francisco International Airport aboard Philippine Airlines commercial flight PR 104 from Manila.
She is scheduled to visit the E-Bay headquarters in Silicon Valley, San Jose, and receive officials of Remec, a leading information technology company in California.
The President will be conferred an honorary degree by the University of San Francisco (USF) at the Saint Ignatius Church in the main campus.
She is the second head of state to visit USF and one of only a few women heads of state to have done so in many years.
According to Stephen A. Privett, SJ, president of the USF, they will celebrate the Presidentís visit with a number of educational and cultural events.
“We are grateful for her generosity in sharing this time with the university community. We anticipate that her visit to USF will be both an honor and an inspiration,” Privett said.
He added that Arroyo, who is Jesuit-educated, exemplifies the compassionate leadership that the world needs. (MNS)
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Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA, November 19, 2004 --- The complaint of defamation and intentional infliction filed against the wife of Philippine Consul General in Los Angeles was dismissed “with prejudice” by Judge Jan A. Pluim of the Department NEP of the Superior Court here when nobody showed up at the status hearing on Oct. 27.
In a minute order, Pluim said “demurer was sustained for the reason stated … without leave to amend on 9-15. The court hereby dismisses the case in its entirety with prejudice.”
Aside from Mrs. Teresita B. Paynor, wife of Consul General Marciano A. Paynor, Jr., other defendants include Dr. Romeo L. Isidro, a psychiatrist, his wife, Elizabeth, and 50 others.
The complainant in the case was Angelita M. Rice, Mrs. Philippines-Universe 2003 beauty pageant winner, a native of Apalit, Pampanga, and residing at Los Angeles northeast suburb of Lancaster.
Roman P. Mosqueda, the lawyer for Paynor, explained that Judge Pluim “granted the motion to dismiss the complaint” last July 27 “after hearing arguments” of the case.
Court has
no jurisdiction
The court “treated Paynor’s motion to dismiss, primarily based on lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, as a motion to strike, and granted it, without any written opposition filed by James Kim, the attorney of Angel Rice.”
Then, the attorney for Isidros filed a demurer to the complaint against them. The court sustained the demurer for failure to state a cause of action, but allowed Angel Rice 10 days leave to amend, and 10 days for the Isidros to respond to the amended complaint based on the same order.
Reached for comment, Rice said her lawyer “completely decided to just let go of the case.”
“I am still pursuing the case, but not as an appeal. While I have a case, it is not as strong as Atty. Kim had told me before. He took the case knowing that getting punitive damages would be difficult to get. Although I found another lawyer, I think they are just gouging me with money. The retainer fee is exorbitant,” she said.
Complainant to pursue case in small claims court
Rice added, “Instead, I will be filing a small claims lawsuit against Paynor and Isidro, because of the malicious intent of the letter. Also, I will be demanding return of my payment to my lawyer otherwise, he’ll be reported to the State Bar for knowingly accepting a case he did not have the competency to handle.”
The case arose from a fund-raising at a popularity beauty contest last year sponsored by the University of the Philippines Medical Alumni Society of America (UPMASA), Southern California chapter, headed by Dr. Isidro. Mrs. Paynor was UPMASA honorary chairperson.
As a major fund-raiser and winner in UPMASA’s beauty pageant, Ms. Rice inquired on the amount of donation given to the Philippine General Hospital. She also felt accorded unfair treatment during the trip to the Philippines where contest winners witnessed the turnover of the check donation to the PGH.
Seeking my professional help as a psychiatrist?
In her separate complaint to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila against Consul Gen. Paynor and his wife, Teresita Paynor, Rice wrote that when she insisted for a full accounting of the funds the pageant raised, Dr. Isidro took it personally against her and sent out to Mrs. Paynor a defamatory letter maligning her character and reputation. The defamatory statement says, “Unless you are seeking my professional help as a psychiatrist, in which case, I can refer you to one of my colleagues.” The original letter sent to her by Dr. Isidro did not contain the libelous portion.
Rice added that “Mrs. Paynor breached the confidentiality of the letter and allowed it to be seen and read by her friends who also knew me. On her own admission, Mrs. Paynor stated that there was a party in her place on Sept. 23, 2003, when one of the concerned guests brought the contents of the letter to my attention.”
As a result of Rice’s insistence, UPMASA added $20,500 donation to the PGH aside from the original donation of $20,000 that she felt was “so little considering the total amount of $116,000 was raised.”
The balance of the money raised after deducting expenses will become “seed money for the UPMASA National Convention in 2004, which will be held in Newport Beach, CA,” according to UPMASA.
Rice said that Consul General Paynor, presidential adviser on foreign visits, discouraged her from filing a complaint against him and his wife, saying that they have “immunity” and the worse thing that can happen was a “recall.”
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Jersey City, NEW JERSEY, November 19, 2004 --- She wakes up at 7 a.m. and works hard for her company until 4 a.m. the following day. In between those long hours, she devotes her time to promoting healthcare programs, or facilitating inter-generational activities, or even coordinating with Filipino veterans and senior citizens.
Amid the success of her own mortgage business here, Lourdes Corrales gives her blessings back to the Filipino community. And on Nov. 29, she will be given the “Entrepreneur of the Year Award” by the International Institute of New Jersey (IINJ).
“I’m very happy to receive this award. It is also an honor and a reflection of the achievements of the Filipinos in Jersey City,” she said.
The IINJ awards are given each year to immigrants who are successful in their respective endeavors, and at the same time doing significant projects for their own communities.
“We celebrate immigrants for their hardwork and dedication,” Mary Kay Jou, training coordinator of IINJ, said. “We make sure to honor their dedication and hardwork.”
Jou said that IINJ also gives the Leadership Award, Volunteers of the Year Award, and Human Spirit Award.
This year’s recipient of the Leadership Award, Jou said, is Congressman Christopher Smith, to salute his efforts as the principal sponsor of the Torture Victims Release Act, the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Act of 2000, and the Trafficking Victims of Re-Authorization Act of 2003.
Corrales is the first Filipino-American to be the recipient of IINJ awards.
“With my own business, I have the financial freedom, and I could realize my full potential,” said Corrales, who is currently appointed as deputy mayor of Jersey City. “If you are a mere employee, you are limited to a certain extent.
She embarked on mortgage business, she said, because of her background in banking and finance, as well as its potential to earn more.
“When you have your own business, the opportunities open up, though the risks, too. But you always have to calculate the risks in order to achieve your business goals,” Corrales said.
She hopes that her IINJ award would inspire other Filipinos to come up with their own businesses and contribute in the progress of the community.
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