Chagrin to file illegal detention charges vs. Mandaue City Police

CEBU, Philippines – Lawyer Ronald Baquiano of furniture company Chagrin Inc. plans to file a complaint for illegal detention against the policemen of Basak, Mandaue City.

Baquiano, in an interview with The FREEMAN, claimed that workers Jesus Ibarra and Dante Libra were illegally detained at the Station 3 in Basak yesterday morning.

According to the Basak Police Station report, Ibarra and Libra were accused of “conspiracy in committing grave threats, illegal discharge of firearms and physical injuries” by members of the Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP).

But Baquiano said the two workers were arrested without basis. According to the lawyer, Libra and Ibarra were arrested after a striker overheard Libra, a known management leader, talking in the mobile phone to a striker.

ALU members who were working for the already closed R and Y furniture company had been picketing outside Chagrin Inc. for two months now, claiming that R and Y closed shop and opened using another name so they could bust the union.

Violence had erupted several times at the picket area and the most recent one was a commotion last Saturday night, when the strikers allegedly refused to let the workers get inside the company.

For Baquiano, there was clear intention on the part of ALU to cause trouble as one striker was caught with a 12-guage shotgun.

In a press statement, Chagrin Inc. also accused the police of “turning a blind eye” to the fact that some strikers were armed. They said they even photographed the police car which was parked near the man bringing the shotgun. The Chagrin Inc. officials also said they took a picture of a striker with a slingshot, as well as another striker with a homemade shotgun, locally known as pugakhang.

“They continue to refuse us free and unobstructed entry or exit from our company gates, even without court order,” the management said in a press statement.

The management also criticized the police for what it labeled as “passivity” over all that the strikers were doing.

“The company has been harassed by these illegal strikers for nearly two months now,” Chagrin added in the press release.

Last June 27, 60 workers were “trapped” inside the company premises for more than 24 hours, giving apprehensions to the families of the workers. The workers were told that business was back to normal and they could already go to work, so they rode the bus that the company sent to fetch them at a designated area in Mandaue City.

But they were “barred” from going home, prompting them to call their families through their cellphones. The strikers denied they prevented the workers from going out.

Around 20 of them “escaped” by jumping at the back portion of the company’s building. The rest of the “detained” workers informed their families, who sought the assistance of Consolacion Mayor-elect Teresa Alegado.

Alegado asked for help from National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) Director Edmund Mirasol, who mediated and succeeded in having the workers “freed.”

One incident at the picket area also saw stones and mugs of hot water literally flying between strikers and the management. (THE FREEMAN)