Union President of DOLE Philippines arrested

Harrassment of union officials continue

The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Labor Center slammed the arrest of Jose (Ka JT) Teruel, union president of the DOLE Philippines Inc. Ka JT was accosted by the Philippine National Police in Polomolok, South Cotabato last July 19, 2007 at 5 in the afternoon while he was inside the Amado Kadena-NAFLU-KMU (AK-NAFLU-KMU) union office on charges of 20 counts of falsification of private documents filed by defeated union leaders belonging to the National Federation of Labor (NFL).

"The arrest of Ka JT is one among the long list of continued harrassment of union officials and members of AK-NAFLU-KMU perpetrated and instigated by the management of DOLE Philippines but this time around, the management used the defeated union leaders to intensify the intimidation of leadership of AK-NAFLU-KMU," said Elmer "Ka Bong" Labog, National Chairperson of the KMU.

According to Labog, this is not the first time the leadership of union was under duress from the management. "Early this year, Oscar Serohijos, the secretary of the union was dismissed because he exposed the occupational health problems posed by the continued use of banned chemicals by DOLE Philippines and now it's Ka JT's turn to be under attack."

The other respondents include FLORENTINO R. BEGHANILUM, NICOLAS S. GALIA, OSCAR SEROHIJOS, EDMUNDO G. VELONERO, ESMERALDO DUBLIN, ROBERT DAGANG, WALTER CELESTE, MERLITA SALDE, ANTONIO N. ACEBU, ELVIRA J. LACHICA, PERIGRINO P. BANGUIS, NOEL A. MARANGUIT, PASTOR R. CUYOS, ADELAIDA M. SEGUMPAN, ALEXANDER Z. MIRANDA, CHRISTOPHER V. MATUGAS and ARNOLD A. BAJAR.

As of press time, Ka JT is still in jail since he cannot raise the P240,000 amount needed for his bail.