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 Hindi
ka mabibigo Ka Mundo!
This was the last cry of the BISSIG former co-workers,
friends and family of Raymundo J. Mercado or Ka Mundo
as he died last October 12, 2002 from kidney failure
he has been suffering from since last year.
Ka
Mundo worked with IRRI for 22 years as a field worker.
He was assigned to toil the experimental fields. His
work included cultivating plants, propagating, trimming
and mowing the field surface and irrigating. He also
put rat poison in the field and sprayed pesticides
such as Endrin, Furadan, Round-up, Thiodan and others.
He worked without protective gear and most of the
time, he and his colleagues worked with their bare
hands.
Ka
Mundo knew that constant exposure to hazardous chemicals
can cause various diseases and illnesses but continued
to work to earn a decent living. Six workers died
from 1988 to 2001 while three others still suffers
from serious diseases that BISSIG, the workers union,
claim are related to continuous exposure to harmful
chemicals.
IRRI
strenuously denies that workers are treated unfairly
and claim that only one worker has suffered a work-related
condition in its history.
Mr
Duncan Macintosh of IRRI says, "the IRRI farm
is one of the few rice farms in the Philippines which
not only strictly enforces Philippine government safety
standards for farm chemical use, but goes an extra
step further and enforces international safety standards
as well."
"There
has only been one case of a worker confirmed by the
relevant Philippine government agencies as having
a work related condition. Many other cases have been
assessed by the Philippine government authorities
and agencies responsible but all have been judged
non-work related. For this one case, the worker received
compensation well above the Philippine legal requirement
including educational scholarships for all his children,"
he said.
Filipino
workers at IRRI have launched protest actions to show
their disgust at what they claim is unfair labor treatment
including the major retrenchment programs.
BISSIG
filed a case against IRRI charging them with illegally
terminating regular employees at the National Labors
Relations Commission-Region IV. The case was immediately
dismissed because of IRRI's immunity under the Presidential
Decree 1620 bestowed by the late President Ferdinand
E. Marcos. The granted the institute the status, prerogatives,
privileges and immunities of an international organization.
This means that they are exempt from Filipino national
law.
BISSIG
maintains that these privileges should only go to
internationally chartered organizations like the UN
and not to an experimental station like IRRI.
The
newly retrenched and BISSIG workers sought the help
of Bayan Muna Representatives Satur Ocampo and other
congressmen to end IRRI's immunity and gain justice
for Filipino workers. The first Congressional hearing
on Housebill 5095 entitled IRRI Workers Rights Act
was held last October 16, 2002.
Rep.
Roseller Barinaga, Chairman of the House Committee
on Labor and Employment said that, "The Committee
will have to convene the Executive Session with representatives
from IRRI, BISSIG and retrenched workers to resolve
the issue because of the two international but conflicting
conditions, we have IRRI that was given an immunity
but at the same time we have a lot of treaties for
the protection of workers which is no less than recognized
by the ILO."
The
committee will also try to resolve the issues in a
harmonious way, claiming that it is possible to satisfy
the needs of the workers without compromising the
current status and rights of IRRI.
"Ka
Mundo will no longer see the dawn of justice but his
spirit will live to the hearts of his co-workers who
will continue the struggle and regain the lost land
for him," said Patricio Layosa Jr., BISSIG acting
president.
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