MANILA, Philippines — Nineteen NutriAsia workers and their supporters were released from police custody Wednesday, two days after they were arrested in a violent dispersal outside the condiments distributor’s factory in Marilao, Bulacan.
According to alternative online publication Bulatlat, the Meycauayan City Prosecutor, in separate resolutions Tuesday, ordered the Meycauayan Police Station jail warden to free 14 NutriAsia workers and their supporters and five journalists.
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NutriAsia 19, malaya na! Salamat sa lahat ng sumuporta! pic.twitter.com/8fO5AKiCN2
— Renato Reyes, Jr. (@natoreyes) August 1, 2018
Bulatlat reported that the charge of physical injuries has been dismissed while charges of alarm and scandal, and illegal assembly will need further investigation.
Also released were journalists Jon Bonifacio, Psalty Caluza, Eric Tandoc, Avon Ang and Hiyasmin Saturay.
“The fight continues as we press the PNP and NutriAsia for accountability over their wanton violation of human rights—from PNP and NutriAsia’s violent dispersal of the picket to NutriAsia’s shameless refusal to acknowledge the legitimate rights of the workers to regular employment, decent wages and other benefits they truly deserve,” youth activist group Anakbayan said in a statement.
Edwin Barana, who is neither a NutriAsia worker nor a supporter of the strike, will remain in detention after he was allegedly found possessing sachets of shabu and a firearm.
Nagkakaisang Manggagawa ng NutriAsia on a Facebook post said that Barana has been imprisoned since 2016. He was allegedly beaten up by cops to force him to pretend that he was joining the strike.
Around 300 NutriAsia workers and their supporters were violently dispersed by the company’s security personnel and cops after an ecumenical mass was held outside NutriAsia’s plant in Marilao.
But NutriAsia directed the blame on protesters, claiming they were the ones who initiated violence.
Accounts from the ground, including those by student publications and alternative media organizations, do not support the claim. — Gaea Katreena Cabico