Militant group Kadamay expressed outrage on Thursday after Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III blamed them for starting a scuffle that led to a violent dispersal of workers at a condiments factory in Marilao, Bulacan.
In a statement, Kadamay chairperson Gloria Arellano dared Bello to prove that their members instigated violence at the NutriAsia factory where workers were picketing to protest low wages and poor working conditions.
Arellano claimed that none of their members started “any unruly activity at the picket line” and have consistently supported the fight for the welfare of the NutriAsia workers and to end contractualization.”
“Nung una palang hanggang ngayon, sinisisi ang Kadamay pero wala namang ebidensyang maipakita. Wala naman kaming miyembro na pulis, kasi sa hanay naman ng pulis nagmula ang pambabato,” Arellano said in a statement.
(We have been blamed for the violence since the start, but they can’t show any evidence. We don’t have policemen in our ranks, the violence started on their side.)
READ: Bello: Kadamay, not NutriAsia workers, to blame for violent dispersal
The urban poor group’s chairwoman said that Bello should just focus on the need to provide regular employment for Filipino workers instead of resorting to “slander to cover up the government’s grave inadequacies.”
Bello told reporters at Malacañang on Wednesday that there’s already an ongoing mediation between the workers and NutriAsia, but Kadamay had meddled.
The Labor chief added that no NutriAsia employee was hurt during the dispersal.
“Ang nanggugulo diyan ang Kadamay. ‘Di naman sila empleyado ng NutriAsia,” Bello said. “Kung ‘di lang pumasok ang Kadamay, dapat ‘di nagkagulo.”
(The cause of trouble there is Kadamay and they are not even employees of NutriAsia. If they were not there, there would be no violence). /ee