Rivalry angle in killing of Luisita leader debunked

ANGELES CITY – A union leader debunked yesterday reports that the killing of Ricardo Ramos, Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (Catlu) president, could have been caused by a conflict with a rival labor union at the Hacienda Luisita, which is controlled by the family of former President Corazon Aquino.

The Catlu, comprised of workers at the hacienda’s sugar mill, had received benefits worth P8.8 million from the management of Hacienda Luisita, while the United Luisita Workers’ Union (ULWU) of sugar plantation workers still had to finish negotiations.

Nestor Arquiza, Catlu secretary general, said the soldiers suspected of killing Ramos were allegedly spirited away by the military soon after the crime was committed last Tuesday night.

"Immediately after Ramos was shot, at least three soldiers were seen running away from the crime scene and enter the sub-pool compound less than a hundred meters (away)," he said.

"Then a Tamaraw FX was seen leaving the compound so fast that it almost ran over people in the street."

However, Senior Superintendent Perfecto Palad, commander of the police task force probing Ramos’ killing, said some 18 soldiers at the detachment were moved out only last Friday, amid allegations that witnesses would be intimidated by their presence.

The two soldiers, Privates First Class Roderick de la Cruz and Rolando Castillo, are not directly under the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), but under the Army’s 7th Infantry Division with Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan as commander, he added.

He did not say that other soldiers had already been evacuated.

Arquiza also said on the day Ramos was killed, striking sugar mill workers had just received some P8.8 million in wages earned before the strike, not back wages as erroneously reported.

"(The Department of Labor and Employment) levied 8,000 bags of sugar from the sugar mill last Oct. 22 because the company refused to pay the workers’ earned wages," he said. "Proceeds from the sale of the sugar were used to pay the workers."

Arquiza said last Oct. 20, Catlu officers led by Ramos and Hacienda Luisita management representative Ernesto Teopaco reached an agreement that reinstated all officers of Catlu except Romeo Zarate and Rene Tua who both applied for early retirement so that negotiations could proceed.

"Both parties agreed that an agreement with ULWU and management will have to be reached and that there should be a simultaneous signing of memorandum of agreement for both unions before the strike can be declared finally resolved," he said.

Arquiza said the distribution of the P8.8 million to the workers was based on a DOLE order, and was contrary to the policy of the hacienda’s management.

"There is no rift between Catlu and ULWU nor among their officers and members," he said.

"To the very end, Ramos maintained that the strike could only be resolved when both unions arrive at an agreement with the management.

"Catlu did not abandon ULWU and there is no conflict between the two unions as the police would like to make it appear," Arquiza said

He said while two soldiers from the Mapalacsiao detachment are now considered suspects, police investigators have cited the possibility that the New People’s Army is involved because of "internal conflict" within the striking unions.

"(According to witnesses), an armored personnel carrier tank and a helicopter arrived (at the detachment) minutes after the shooting to evacuate the soldiers," he said.

Arquiza said police investigators gloss over the glaring factual evidence that soldiers from the Nolcom have been hounding Ramos for the past months.

Like Ramos, ULWU president Renato Galang had also been receiving death threats apparently from the military, he added.

Palad said members of his task force from the Tarlac provincial and city police, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and the police crime laboratory will continue investigating the killing of Ramos despite the holidays.

However, Palad said although Castillo and De la Cruz are "probable suspects," only circumstantial evidences have been gathered against them as no one actually saw who fired the shot from the M-14 rifle that killed Ramos.

"If any M-14 had been issued to either of the soldiers, ballistic tests will determine whether it was fired recently," he said.

Finding the "smoking gun" would help identify the triggerman, Palad said.

Meanwhile, Lily, Ramos’ 40-year-old widow, has expressed fears of a whitewash in the probe, saying that the military will never produce the smoking gun on its own.