Twenty-eight agricultural workers have filed a complaint before the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Bacolod City against the national president of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama Jr. for alleged labor law violations.
The workers’ legal counsel, Clarence Gordoncillo, announced the filing during a press conference in Bacolod City on Saturday, July 18.
Joining Gordoncillo at the press conference were the complaining workers and Noly Rosales, who heads Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Negros.
The workers, who stated they have been employed at Hacienda Lolita in Barangay Luna, Cadiz City owned by Valderrama for decades, alleged that their rights to just wages and benefits were violated.
Their complaint, filed in June, cites alleged violations of the minimum wage law, 13th-month pay, service incentive leaves, and retirement benefits.
The workers also provided the media with a copy of a letter sent to Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., detailing their grievances against Valderrama.
In the letter, the workers claimed that despite several decades of service, they were repaid with human rights violations. They informed Laurel that they endured underpayment of wages and benefits, did not receive their “carabao share,” and were denied their 3 percent share of the Sugar Amelioration Bonus (SAB).
“We were also prohibited from organizing ourselves or forming a union,” the workers added in their statement.
Gordoncillo said his clients were being classified as “pakyaw” workers but they are of the belief that they are regular workers.
The legal counsel of Valderrama, in a statement released Saturday, said the claims against the CONFED president of not paying his workers with their legally mandated benefits are “a false, if not malicious, accusation”.
During conferences with the DOLE where the complaint is now pending, the office of Valderrama produced pertinent records that debunked claims of underpayment/nonpayment of wages and benefits, the statement said.
“ 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 added.
“ What they cannot do legally, they try to achieve by mudslinging and media pressure tactics. Mr. Valderrama has stated his conscience is clear and he will not bow to any such coercion,“ the statement said.
The DOLE will conduct an inspection of the farms, including payrolls, time records, it said.
The office of Valderrama has nothing to hide. This inspection will vindicate him and prove that he did not cheat the workers, the statement said.
His personal and foundational principle is, and has always been, “a fair day’s wage, for a fair day’s labor”, it added.
“Mr. Valderrama stands by his principles. Mudslinging on social media is unfair and illegal where truths are twisted. Should this continue, our client will be left with no choice but bring the matter to the proper courts,” the statement said.*
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