112 workers rescued from plantation

Some of the 112 sugarcane workers rescued in a bioethanol plantation in Cauayan City after they complained of nonpayment of minimum wages and poor living conditions. Their case followed that of at least 1,000 workers in Hacienda Luisita who were also rescued several weeks earlier. —VILLAMOR VISAYA JR.

CAUAYAN CITY—As many as 112 sugarcane workers were taken from a bioethanol plantation on Friday night by a team formed to combat human trafficking in Isabela.

The workers complained of inhumane conditions and unpaid salaries which were allegedly below the minimum wage at the Isabela Ecofuel sugarcane plantation in Barangay Alicaocao here, according to Senior Supt. Reynaldo Garcia, officer in charge of the Isabela police. Three of the workers were minors.

Rodolfo Gammad Jr., Ecofuel human resource manager, was informed about the government operation triggered by the complaints raised by the workers, most of whom came from the provinces of Sarangani, Bicol, Negros Oriental and General Santos City.

But Ecofuel representatives declined to comment on the workers’ complaints and said the company would issue a formal statement. None had been released at press time.

Unpaid wages

Jewish Luis, a Sarangani sugarcane laborer who acted as the spokesperson for the rescued workers, claimed he was promised a weekly income of P3,000 to P4,000, which was not fulfilled.

The team brought the workers to the Isabela Evacuation Center in Ilagan City around 10 p.m. The workers wanted to return to their home provinces.

The Cagayan Regional Interagency Committee Against Trafficking and Isabela prosecutors Ruby Milagros Damian and Rudy Manaloto initiated the police operation.

The rescue of workers in Isabela came weeks after the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole), according to earlier reports by Inquirer, ordered an investigation of the hiring of up to 1,000 sugarcane workers from different areas in Mindanao to work during harvest season in Hacienda Luisita, an estate owned by the family of former President Aquino in Tarlac province.

Joel Maglungsod, labor undersecretary, ordered the investigation because the workers’ recruitment had no clearance from the Dole office in Central Luzon.

Luisita harvest

The Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA), which represents workers in Luisita, said at least 43 workers from the provinces of Bukidnon, Cotabato and Davao provinces had been rescued at the request of an UMA affiliate in Bukidnon.

Danilo Ramos, UMA secretary general, said the firm Greenhand Labor Service Cooperative recruited the workers for Agrikulto Inc., which, he claimed, was bought by the Central Azucarera de Tarlac. They were recruited to work from November 2016 to February 2017.

But former Tarlac Rep. Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr., elder brother of the late President Corazon Aquino, said Luisita did not need to hire laborers, including “sacada” (cane cutters) recruited from Mindanao, because the estate used mechanical harvesters to cut and collect sugarcane.

Cojuangco is one of the owners of the remaining lands not covered by agrarian reform in Luisita.

“As far as I can remember we never imported labor from Mindanao or anywhere,” said Cojuangco in a recent interview. —VILLAMOR VISAYA