DITFI-Dole Stanfilco using court to foil workers’ struggle

PANABO CITY—Kilusang Mayo Uno-Southern Mindanao Region today accused the management of DOLE Stanfilco and its subsidiary Davao Integrated Transport Facilities, Inc. (DITFI) of using the courts to undermine the protest action of retrenched workers here. The labor center also lashed out on Regional Trial Court Branch 34 in PanaboCity that released the temporary restraining order (TRO) without considering the existence of a labor dispute between the workers and the transnational company.

On Wednesday, October 24, DOLE Stanfilco secured a restraining order against the workers from Judge Clemente A. Tajon. Sheriff Henry Braceros brought the TRO to the picket line.

“They could have served the TRO before dusk; but they chose to serve it at around 6:00 in the evening so people won’t be able to see what sinister plan they have if the workers defy the order. Sheriff Braceros knows that by law, he has to serve the TRO at daytime and he should only be escorted by uniformed policemen, but he let mercenaries of AFP and DOLE Stanfilco’s hired goons to tag along,” said Noel Morales, president of Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa DITFI (NAMADITFI), the workers’ union.

DOLE Stanfilco brought its own “dispersal team,” that included a jeep of 8 members from the military’s 10th ID in full-battle gear and a band of more or less 30 hired plain-clothed men with side arms. Three police vehicles also escorted the sheriff that served the TRO.

“We are wondering how much money DOLE Stanfilco paid Sheriff to ‘explain’ to us that we are fighting for nothing. For a sheriff whose only job was to serve the TRO, Braceros was well-versed with DOLE Stanfilco’s corporate decisions and defended breathlessly the company’s position,” Morales said. The union was able to record on video the entire incident. Before reading the TRO, Braceros explained why DOLE Stanfilco was driving the workers’ barricade away from the entrance of the container yard.

Kelly Delgado, secretary general of human rights watchdog Karapatan, was present when the TRO was served. “There were men who refused to identify themselves and were taking pictures of the workers and the supporters in the picket line. Some of the policemen who accompanied the “dispersal team” have taken off their nameplates in their uniforms.”

Omar Bantayan, secretary general of KMU-SMR, said that the incident only showed how DOLE Stanfilco, with all its power and influence, can will the courts to side with its greedy capitalist interests. “The workers realize that the transnational company can bend the rules to suit its interest. The RTC did not even bother to look into the labor dispute that caused the workers to mount a barricade in front of the container yard.”

“But the workers are still going to fight this through. We know that our protest action stirred DOLE Stanfilco’s corporate interest that’s why they had to manipulate the courts against us. DOLE Stanfilco can expect more action from our ranks until they give us our jobs back,” ended Morales.