Philippine President Gloria Arroyo yesterday ordered the replacement of soldiers and police guarding a farm controlled by the family of former president Corazon Aquino after deadly riots involving striking workers claimed as many as seven lives.
National police said four protesters were killed and 16 others, including three policemen, were injured when demonstrators protesting job cuts clashed with riot police outside the gates of the Hacienda Luisita near the northern city of Tarlac on Tuesday.
However, union officials said seven people were killed and 30 injured.
Arroyo said she was "deeply saddened over the violent clashes," and appealed for "prudence and sobriety on both sides." She avoided blaming anyone for the bloodshed.
Police and soldiers involved in the riot would be rotated out and replaced with a fresh contingent that would exercise "maximum tolerance", she said in a statement.
The workers on the 6,000hectare estate launched a strike after more than 300 farmhands were laid off and separate negotiations between the management and the sugar mill union broke down.
The strikers refused a government order to return to work, the labor department said. The stand-off turned into a pitched battle on Tuesday when soldiers and police arrived to enforce the labor department's "return to work" order.
cooling off
Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas said the strike had been illegal as the union had not complied with a required "cooling off" period.
Arroyo said government agencies would extend burial and hospital assistance to the casualties. She urged the management and strikers to settle the dispute in "a peaceful and rational manner."
Jose Romero, a director of the striking United Luisita Workers union, said the dead included two children who choked on the tear gas fired by the riot police.
Residents who sympathized with the strike had brought their children to the picketline, he said.
National police chief Director-General Edgardo Aglipay ordered a "thorough investigation" of the rioting at Hacienda Luisita, a corporate farm controlled by the Cojuangco family, which includes ex-president Corazon Aquino.
Romero accused the riot police of starting the violence, saying "they were shooting at us, using automatic fire."
Romero said that he was hit and kicked by riot police while ducking to avoid gunfire.
Jose Cojuangco, brother of former president Aquino and head of the Cojuangco family, said his sister Corazon Aquino did not have a say in the management of the company.
Many of those laid off had accepted their retirement pay and only about 80 workers were actually taking part in the strike. Their ranks had been swelled by outsiders brought in by militant labor groups, Cojuangco charged.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS