13 suspected Reds nabbed in Hacienda Luisita

HACIENDA LUISITA, Tarlac — Tension grips Hacienda Luisita anew after 13 people, including a 10-year-old boy and two women, were arrested by the military in Barangay Balete at around 1:30 a.m. yesterday.

Col. Preme Monta, spokesman of the Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), said the residents were arrested based on reports that they have been conducting "teaching activities" involving communist ideology.

United Luisita Workers’ Union (ULWU) president and Barangay Balete village chief Renato Galang, however, said the 13 residents were arrested "for no cause" by drunk soldiers allegedly from the 24th Infantry Battalion.

Police Superintendent Rudy Lacadin, chief of the Tarlac City PNP, said that only three of the individuals are presently detained while the rest have been released and are now in the custody of Galang.

Monta said those arrested were allegedly found in possession of two improvised firearms, arrows, explosives and subversive documents.

Lacadin identified those arrested as Eduardo Martinez, Arnold Cunan and Marilou Ricardo.

A "flying icepick" was found in Martinez’s possession while two improvised shotguns were found in the possession of Cunan and Ricardo. All three are facing charges of illegal possession of deadly weapons.

Cunan and Ricardo are also included in the list of names of instigators to the Hacienda Luisita labor dispute found in the "Trinity War" book of Nolcom chief Romeo Dominguez.

Galang, however, decried that the residents were "treated Gestapo style, beaten with gun butts, punched and kicked."

Even the two women were not spared," he said.

Barangay Balete is where Hacienda Luisita workers have been maintaining a picket line since last year. Last Oct. 25, Ricardo Ramos, president of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU) was shot dead in neighboring Barangay Mapalacsiao.

Two soldiers belonging to the 24th Infantry Division were identified by neighbors as suspects, but police investigators said evidence against them have remained circumstantial.