Philippine President Gloria Arroyo yesterday ordered the replacement of soldiers and police guarding a farm controlled by the family of former president Corazon Aquino after deadly riots involving striking workers claimed as many as seven lives.
National police said four protesters were killed and 16 others, including three policemen, were injured when demonstrators protesting job cuts clashed with riot police outside the gates of the Hacienda Luisita near the northern city of Tarlac on Tuesday.
However, union officials said seven people were killed and 30 injured.
Arroyo said she was "deeply saddened over the violent clashes," and appealed for "prudence and sobriety on both sides." She avoided blaming anyone for the bloodshed.
Police and soldiers involved in the riot would be rotated out and replaced with a fresh contingent that would exercise "maximum tolerance", she said in a statement.
The workers on the 6,000hectare estate launched a strike after more than 300 farmhands were laid off and separate negotiations between the management and the sugar mill union broke down.
The strikers refused a government order to return to work, the labor department said. The stand-off turned into a pitched battle on Tuesday when soldiers and police arrived to enforce the labor department's "return to work" order.
cooling off
Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas said the strike had been illegal as the union had not complied with a required "cooling off" period.
Arroyo said government agencies would extend burial and hospital assistance to the casualties. She urged the management and strikers to settle the dispute in "a peaceful and rational manner."
Jose Romero, a director of the striking United Luisita Workers union, said the dead included two children who choked on the tear gas fired by the riot police.
Residents who sympathized with the strike had brought their children to the picketline, he said.
National police chief Director-General Edgardo Aglipay ordered a "thorough investigation" of the rioting at Hacienda Luisita, a corporate farm controlled by the Cojuangco family, which includes ex-president Corazon Aquino.
Romero accused the riot police of starting the violence, saying "they were shooting at us, using automatic fire."
Romero said that he was hit and kicked by riot police while ducking to avoid gunfire.
Jose Cojuangco, brother of former president Aquino and head of the Cojuangco family, said his sister Corazon Aquino did not have a say in the management of the company.
Many of those laid off had accepted their retirement pay and only about 80 workers were actually taking part in the strike. Their ranks had been swelled by outsiders brought in by militant labor groups, Cojuangco charged.
People with missing teeth might be able to grow new ones, said Japanese dentists, who are testing a pioneering drug they hope will offer an alternative to dentures and implants. Unlike reptiles and fish, which usually replace their fangs on a regular basis, it is widely accepted that humans and most other mammals only grow two sets of teeth. However, hidden underneath our gums are the dormant buds of a third generation, said Katsu Takahashi, head of oral surgery at the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital in Osaka, Japan. His team launched clinical trials at Kyoto University Hospital in October, administering an experimental
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency and the Pentagon on Monday said that some North Korean troops have been killed during combat against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk border region. Those are the first reported casualties since the US and Ukraine announced that North Korea had sent 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia to help it in the almost three-year war. Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said that about 30 North Korean troops were killed or wounded during a battle with the Ukrainian army at the weekend. The casualties occurred around three villages in Kursk, where Russia has for four months been trying to quash a
ROYAL TARGET: After Prince Andrew lost much of his income due to his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, he became vulnerable to foreign agents, an author said British lawmakers failed to act on advice to tighten security laws that could have prevented an alleged Chinese spy from targeting Britain’s Prince Andrew, a former attorney general has said. Dominic Grieve, a former lawmaker who chaired the British Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) until 2019, said ministers were advised five years ago to introduce laws to criminalize foreign agents, but failed to do so. Similar laws exist in the US and Australia. “We remain without an important weapon in our armory,” Grieve said. “We asked for [this law] in the context of the Russia inquiry report” — which accused the government
A rash of unexplained drone sightings in the skies above New Jersey has left locals rattled and sent US officials scrambling for answers. Breathless local news reports have amplified the anxious sky-gazing and wild speculation — interspersing blurry, dark clips from social media with irate locals calling for action. For weeks now, the distinctive blinking lights and whirling rotors of large uncrewed aerial vehicles have been spotted across the state west of New York. However, military brass, elected representatives and investigators have been unable to explain the recurring UFO phenomenon. Sam Lugo, 23, who works in the Club Studio gym in New Jersey’s Bergen
RSS