Rep. Ignacio Arroyo Jr. (Neg. Occ., 5th district) yesterday said workers whose names appear in a complaint filed before the Department of Labor and Employment against his brother, First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, said their signatures were forged, while others said they were misled into believing that they were signing a document calling for a Voluntary Offer to Sell scheme.

In a statement it issued Thursday, Task Force Mapalad said 24 farm workers of the 157-hectare Hacienda Bacan in Isabela town filed the complaint before DOLE Region 6 Director Carlos Boteros Nov. 7, urging him to ensure the implementation of compensation required by law on the farm.

Arroyo yesterday stressed that the farm ran by Rivulet Corp. was complying with the law in paying the wages of the workers at Bacan.

He said the complaint could not be filed against the first gentleman since he has nothing to do with the running of the farm and was never the owner of the property.

The solon said Hacienda Bacan had been purchased by his father from the Yulo family and then he sold it to Rivulet in the 1980s. Rivulet is owned by a group of friends of my father and myself, the congressman said, but denied that he is the president of the firm.

A statement released by the congressman's office quoted farmer, Vicente Garay, 29, who said he did not know that what he was made to sign was attached to the complaint filed by TFM before the DOLE.

"If I had known it then, I would not sign. I have no reason to file a labor complaint against the owner of the hacienda," the statement quoted Garay as saying.

In the statement, Garay said TFM farmer-member Ricardo Gargantiel, who was not from Bacan, and his companions asked the workers to sign a blank paper with their names already written on it.

The statement said Gargantiel told them the signatures were for those who were in favor of the VOS scheme for the hacienda.

Workers Juanito Fuentevella and Godofredo Pontaron also denied the signatures on the complaint were theirs.

They also denied claims of Gargantiel that they have rats, snakes and snails for lunch and dinner, calling it "outrageous."

The solon said it regrettable that an organization like TFM, which claims to be working for the farmer's interest, is using the farmers for its own interest to discredit the administration of President Arroyo and the Arroyo family.*CPG

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