20 arrested, 10 injured in picketline dispersal
Twenty persons were arrested and at least 10 were injured during the dispersal of protesters at a picketline outside a factory of NutriAsia Inc. in Marilao, Bulacan, yesterday afternoon.
According to initial information, 300 members of Nagkakaisang Manggagawa ng NutriAsia (NMN) were holding a mass at the picketline of the group in Barangay Lambakin, Marilao around 3 p.m. when the dispersal operation occurred.
Militant group Anakbayan said some 400 policemen deployed in the area and the company's security guards initiated a confrontation with the protesters, which resulted to rocks being thrown in the air and cops hitting them with truncheons.
In a statement, NutriAsia management said it was the protesters who started throwing rocks at the security deployed at the Marilao plant.
The management also reiterated that the protesting workers are not part of NutriAsia but of Toll Packers, a third-party packaging company they hired.
"[A]fter three days of resumption of operations in the NutriAsia Marilao plant in faithful compliance with DOLE instructions to have the non-striking majority of Toll Packers' employees return to work, violence erupted when a minority... fired a shot in the air and started to hurl rocks at police and guards tasked to maintain peace and order in the area," the NutriAsia management said.
Three of the injured protesters were rushed to a hospital.
Arrested Twenty protesters were arrested including Anakbayan Secretary General Einstein Recedes, Mark Quinto, deputy secretary general of League of Filipino Students, and University of the Philippines (UP) student Jon Bonifacio, who is also a member of the UP College of Science's official publication -- UP Scientia.
The arrested protesters are detained at the Meycauayan City Police Station.
Superintendent Santos Mera, chief of the Meycauayan police, said they were already preparing the filing of charges against the arrested protesters.
Aside from Anakbayan and Kadamay, several lawmakers and other militant groups also condemned the violent dispersal including Bayan-Muna Partylist Representative Carlos Zarate, Kabataan Partylist Rep. Sarah Elago, the College Editors' Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), and Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) among others.
The dispersal came just as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) ordered the NutriAsia Inc. to regularize at least 80 workers of its contractor AsiaPro Multi-purpose Cooperative through an order dated June 25, 2018.
The DOLE had also released a compliance order directing NutriAsia and its contractors, Alternative Network Resources Unlimited Multipurpose Cooperative, Serbiz Multipurpose Cooperative and B-Mirk Enterprises Cooperation to regularize 914 of its employees.
Among NutriAsia's products are Datu Puti, Silver Swan, Mang Tomas, UFC, Papa Ketchup, and Golden Fiesta.
NutriAsia's side In a statement, NutriAsia management said the protesters violated the writ of preliminary injunction issued last July 26, 2018 by the Malolos Regional Trial Court who ordered the independent workers' union and all other persons involved "to desist and resist from obstructing the ingress to egress" of the Marilao plant.
The management said they were "disappointed" the strikers used children and elderly persons as frontliners and human shields "as they pushed their way to barricade the plant entryways."
"We appeal for calm among the strikers and their supporters and would like to let the public know that the situation is currently in the hands and under control by the Philippine National Police (PNP). We appeal to everyone to comply with the rule of law as we all seek a peaceful resolution," it added.
Strike since June 2
The protesters have been on strike since June 2 to protest the alleged dismissal of at least 50 a contractual employees, and the "dire" working environment inside the plant.
Prior to this incident, a dispersal operation also occured on June 14 between the protesters and the police.