IN VICTORIAS
Hacienda workers seek
police help vs. overseer

The Alab Katipunan yesterday called on the Victorias City Police to provide police assistance to workers in Hacienda Amanda, Brgy. 2, Victorias City, Negros Occidental, who said they received threats from the hacienda overseer and his relatives.

Members of Hacienda Amanda Workers Union, a group affiliated with AK, complained against the management of the hacienda by Ramiro Fereira. AK spokesperson Ben Solilapsi said that the animosity among the workers against Fereira escalated after Arnel Dublan, son of the president of the workers' union, hacked Fereira on Monday.

Solilapsi said Fereira who was tasked by landowner Reynaldo Bantug to oversee the operation of the farm, harassed and intimidated the workers after they requested for his replacement.

Fereira had survived the hacking but his relatives threatened to kill the workers affiliated with the union, Solilapsi said. He added that when Arnel fled to escape criminal charges, Fereira instead, implicated his mother Rowena Dublan in the hacking incident.

The Victorias police arrested Rowena and detained her at the city jail.

The workers staged a picket in front of the jail, prompting the police to release Rowena, Solilapsi said.

However, they refused to return to Hacienda Amanda after Fereira's family, who he claimed are armed with guns, threatened to shoot them. He said the tension can only be defused if the landowner will intervene and the police will provide protection to the workers.*NAB

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Guara returns
guns to Silay

Members of the Silay police Special Weapons and Tactics expect the immediate re-issuance of the firearms bought for them by the administration of Mayor Carlo Gamban after Supt. Celestino Guara, former city police chief, returned yesterday the two M16 assault rifles and a 9mm pistol to the city government.

Senior Supt. Rosendo Franco, provincial police director, yesterday confirmed the return of the firearms.

The firearms were bought by the previous administration in the United States, was facilitated by the Philippine National Police through Guara and a gun store. The controversy over the re-issuance of high-powered firearms to the Silay police SWAT members was resolved after Manapla Mayor Manuel Escalante, arranged a meeting between Mayor Jose Montelibano and Franco recently.

Montellibano had earlier said he will ask the help of Franco in the procurement of sophisticated weapons and modern equipment for Silay police SWAT members, so they can be at par with their counterparts anywhere in the airports of the world.*GPB

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