200 PWDs picket to demand release of logs for school chairs

SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur—At least 200 persons with disabilities and their families have been picketing since Monday inside the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) compound here to demand the release of logs intended for school armchairs.

The members of San Francisco Association of Differently-Abled Persons Multi-Purpose Cooperative vowed to continue to camp out in the Cenro compound until 2,000 board feet of lauan logs meant for armchairs are released.

The protesters, however, will have to stay longer inside the compound as Cenro chief Melvin Bustillo is out and there is no word when he would return to his office.

Roland Ordona, head of the cooperative, said police in Prosperidad town seized the logs after he refused to let them open the closed van that carried the logs taken from a private land in a nearby village.

Inspector Aldrin Salinas, deputy police chief in Prosperidad, said police seized the logs on suspicion that these were illegally cut and after police were able to secure a search warrant.

Ordona, however, said the issuance of the warrant is highly irregular. He said policemen had extorted P3,000 in cash from him on April 4 in exchange for the unimpeded transport of the logs and protection from harassment.

“Our only fault is that we want to earn a decent living,” Ordona said. He admitted, though, that some of the logs lacked transport documents.

The cooperative processes wood and employs at least 100 mostly disabled workers and former communist guerrillas.