DENR union hits demolition of food stalls

MANILA, Philippines—Employees of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources are up in arms over the “Gestapo-like” demolition of food stalls by the management at the DENR’s central office in Quezon City.

The food stalls operated by employees or their relatives have transferred to a vacant lot, which they described as dirty, fly-infested, and too far from the main building.

On Jan. 7, the DENR Employees Union (Denreu) issued a resolution condemning the demolition of the Denreu Livelihood Center, arguing that it was done in bad faith and without proper consultation with the board.

Most of the more than 1,000 DENR employees, including contractual workers, buy food from the center, which offers rice meals at cheap prices. There is also a small canteen operated by the cooperative, but it cannot cater to all employees.

Denreu President Julie Gorospe-Ibuan said the dismantling of the food stalls was a violation of the union’s collective negotiation agreement with the management stipulating livelihood opportunities to augment the income of the members.

“The Denreu Livelihood Center has been in operation for almost eight years already and has been collecting fees from members selling food and other items to fund the activities of the union, especially the protection of its members,” the resolution said.

On Nov. 21, 2013, Administrative Service Director Rolando Castro sent a memorandum to Denreu informing it that the area occupied by the livelihood center was to be cleared for the renovation of the Foreign Assisted and Special Projects Office building.

The Annex building was to be torn down and a seven-story building was to be constructed in its place, according to the memo.

The deadline was Nov. 30 for dry goods stalls and Dec. 31 for food stalls. The union appealed and secured an extension of the deadline to Dec. 31 for both dry goods and food stalls.

Meanwhile, Denreu sent a second appeal to Environment Secretary Ramon Paje asking for more time to come up with a feasibility study for a new canteen to be operated by employees.

But “much to everybody’s surprise,” the DENR’s General Services Division pushed through with the demolition of the livelihood center on Dec. 28, even before the deadline had lapsed, Denreu said in the resolution.

“The dismantling was in bad faith and not a judicious act given the fact that there was no representation from the Denreu board,” the union said.

In a Jan. 10 letter to Gorospe-Ibuan, Castro noted that the DENR’s Multi-purpose Cooperative continued to operate a canteen.

He asked the Denreu to coordinate with the cooperative for the provision of “sufficient/adequate food” for DENR central office employees, clean, nutritious, balanced meals, sanitary utensils and clean surroundings, and reasonable food prices.

But Gorospe-Ibuan said the operations of the canteen were not big enough to serve all central office employees.

In her Jan. 14 reply to Castro, she said the union had no objection to the management’s support for the cooperative-run canteen but that the Denreu livelihood center must be allowed to continue, at least until a new canteen was fully in operation upon mutual agreement by the management and the union.

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