UMA condemns harassment of ‘Ka Gimo’

The Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) condemns the ongoing military harassment on its Chairperson, Guillermo “Ka Gimo” Hernandez.

Ka Gimo is also the Secretary General of Kaisahan ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Batangas (KAISAHAN-Batangas) and the sugar field representative in the District Tripartite Council (DTC) in the Sugar Industry.

Since February 2018, elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) with combined forces of the Philippine Air Force’s (PAF) 730th combat group and the Philippine Army’s 2nd Infantry Division (ID) have been asking for the whereabouts of Ka Gimo.

On July 11, the military together with the PNP set up a military detachment in Ka Gimo’s community, Brgy. Quisumbing, Calaca, Batangas.

On August 20, two military trucks carrying soldiers and police were already looking for Ka Gimo near his house. Because of this most recent harassment, he and his wife, Marilyn, who are on the terrorist proscription list of the government cannot go home and attend to their children who are all studying.

Ka Gimo and his wife have gone beyond in leading their struggle in their barrio to include other places in Batangas where peasants and fisherfolks are being threatened with eviction like those in Hacienda Looc, Laiya, Hacienda Roxas and many others. This includes organizing sugar workers in the province under KAISAHAN.

Military detachments have similarly been set up in these places with soldiers and police interrogating active members and officers of progressive organizations, including Anakpawis Partylist, intimidating them with brute force and telling them just to lie low and resign from said organizations.

In short, there is a de facto martial law prevailing in many rural areas in Batangas, as well as other parts of Luzon and Visayas. The people of Batangas in these communities including a number of their barangay officials are struggling against these fascist attacks and intimidation against their people.

We should add our voice both in the national and international levels against these attacks. Hands off Ka Gimo and all other peasant communities in Batangas. - Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura