By CESAR JOLITO III
Diocese of San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, along with two workers’ groups, has called for a thorough government investigation into the labor complaints filed by farm workers at Hacienda Lolita against sugar stakeholder Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama, Jr. over allegations of unpaid wages.
Alminaza, along with the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) and the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR), said the farm workers’ plight at Barangay Luna in Negros Occidental’s Cadiz City goes beyond legal issues and raises questions of human dignity and social justice.
He stressed that workers deserve just wages and decent working conditions while urging all parties to respect due process as government agencies investigate the complaints.
“Are the men and women whose labor sustains our food system receiving wages that allow them and their families to live with dignity?” Alminaza said in a Facebook post.
The dispute came after 30 farm workers pursued complaints before the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the National Labor Relations Commission, alleging underpayment of wages, non-payment of 13th-month pay and other mandatory benefits.
They claimed they were also denied their share in the Sugar Amelioration Bonus, exclusion from their carabao share, suppression of efforts to organize a labor union, and threats after raising their concerns.
Represented by lawyers from the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers – Negros, the workers have also sought the intervention of Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, Jr. and the Sugar Regulatory Administration.
NFSW expressed solidarity with the complainants, saying the workers’ allegations reflect the long-standing conditions faced by many sugar workers in Negros.
They called for accountability over alleged labor law violations.
Meanwhile, CTUHR urged the government to conduct a comprehensive investigation into Hacienda Lolita’s wage practices, saying the complaints could point to broader labor rights issues in the sugar industry.
CTUHR said Raffy Valentin and 27 other farm workers’ complaint about receiving a P2,500 wage every two weeks could indicate more grave labor rights violations in the hacienda and the sugar industry.
“[This] should not be seen as an isolated case, an individual worker’s situation. The government should see it as possibly the tip of an iceberg, an indication of something bad and even worse in wages received by workers in an area of the economy that is usually not reached by government oversight,” CTUHR Executive Director Kamz Deligente said.
“How can giving workers a mere P250 a day and violating workers’ basic labor rights be legal? Is this a case where an employer can hide behind legal technicalities to violate workers’ rights?”
Meanwhile, Valderrama, through his legal counsel, denied all allegations, describing them as “false, if not malicious,” and maintained that records submitted before DOLE demonstrate compliance with labor laws.
Valderrama’s camp said it welcomed the agency’s inspection and warned of possible legal action against what it described as continued “mudslinging” and distortion of facts.
“After the workers realized that they cannot question the documents legally, they resorted to social media hoping that they can pressure Valderrama into submitting to unreasonable and baseless demands,” it said.
The complaints remain pending before DOLE and the National Labor Relations Commission./CCJ, WDJ