Luisita Caravan in Pictures

Progressive groups under BAYAN, Anakpawis Partylist, Kilusang Mayo Uno and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas assemble at the Quezon Memorial Circle for the 120-kilometer caravan to Hacienda Luisita

Anakpawis Partylist stage a short program at the Quezon Memorial Circle against the Stock Distribution Option (SDO) scheme, which allowed the Cojuangcos to circumvent the distribution of Luisita to farmers

Around 100 vehicles carrying flags of different organizations are parked around the Circle as participants prepare for the departure to Tarlac.

The caravan comes into a brief halt at the expressway, forming a long chain of vehicles bearing flags and banners.

1:30 p.m. - Around 2,000 arrive at Hacienda Luisita to meet the local contingent of farmers and activists

Local farmers and activists welcome the caravan with sugarcane stalks tied with red ribbons, symbolizing the continuing struggle for land and justice.

Workers under Kilusang Mayo Uno march to the western side of Hacienda Luisita for the afternoon program

 

 

Bloodbath in the Sugarland

When a volley of gunfire rang across the vast Hacienda Luisita on November 16, 2004, blood spilled over the Cojuangco-owned sugar estate. Five years later, the culprits remain on the loose, ready to execute another killing spree.

The massacre in Luisita, which claimed the lives of seven striking agricultural workers, was a nightmare bound to happen with the sugar plantation heavily guarded with military and paramilitary forces. In fact, a few kilometers from Luisita is the Philippine Army’s Camp Aquino, which served as guardhouse of the Northern Luzon command, according to an article published by Bulatlat. Apparently, Luisita agri-workers, who are fighting against ridiculously low wages and union busting, have been held at gunpoint by the Cojuangcos since the start.

Luisita agri-workers did not give in despite the intensifying militarization. On Nov. 6, 2004, the 5,000-strong United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU, the sugarcane workers’ union) launched a strike at 11 a.m. over the illegal dismissal of its 326 members. The Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU, the sugar mill workers; union) also declared a strike at 3 p.m. on the same day after the sugar mill’s management turned down the P150-wage hike a proposal by the workers who take home only P9.50 a day, putting the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) into a deadlock. The simultaneous strikes “halted operations of the Hacienda Luisita Inc., the sugar plantation, and Central Azucarera de Tarlac, the hacienda’s sugar,” according to a Bulatlat article.

The strikers knew that at the root of their woes is the Stock Distribution Option (SDO) scheme being implemented by the Cojuangcos. Under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law signed by former Pres. Corazon “Cory” Aquino, who belongs to the family controlling the estate, tenants will be given stocks instead of getting what is due to them: land for the tillers and higher wages for farmworkers. With such understanding of how President Aquino used the law to keep Luisita immune to agrarian reform, the strikers from CATLU and ULWU forged an alliance which served as their sole weapon against armed units deployed in Luisita.

Caravan of thousands to Luisita set on Monday

Lito Bais (center), acting president of the United Luisita Workers' Union, recounts the continuing militarization in the Cojuangco estate at a press conference today. (Photo by KMU)

Land and justice for Luisita farmers on fifth anniv of massacre! – Anakpawis

Anakpawis Partylist, the country’s biggest partylist of workers, farmers and urban poor, announced today in a press conference in Quezon City the “Lakbayan ng Anakpawis para sa Lupa at Katarungan,” a people’s caravan to Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac on Monday to mark the fifth anniversary of the massacre of seven striking agri-workers.

On Nov. 16, 2004, police and military brutally dispersed striking hacienda farmers and farm workers  who were protesting the miserable take-home pay of P9.50 a day and the retrenchment of more than 300 workers tantamount to union-busting.

The caravan is the culmination of activities of various organizations such as the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay), and Anakpawis Partylist to commemorate the said occasion.

“It’s all systems go,” declared Rep. Rafael “Paeng” Mariano, Anakpawis 1st nominee for the 2010 elections and KMP chairperson, about the caravan.

“More than 2,000 people from the National Capital Region and nearby provinces will troop to Luisita to express solidarity with the farmers and farmworkers there. We will be welcomed by more than 1,000 people from the hacienda for a program. The families of those who died in the 2004 massacre will be at the forefront,” he added.

For his part, Rep. Joel Maglunsod, Anakpawis 2nd nominee for the 2010 elections and former KMU secretary-general, reiterated the calls of the Lakbayan.

Arkibong bayan’s materials on Luisita massacre

Included in the webpage are photos of the Luisita martyrs, video clips from the footage of the massacre and zip files of the video documentary “Aklasan.”

Tula: Sinong Paniniwalaan?

Sinong Paniniwalaan?
(Kay Ka Ric Ramos ng CATLU)

NI RAUL FUNILAS
Posted by Bulatlat

Kasarapan nang tagayan
Sa bakurang pahingahan,
Labimpitong kasamahan
Ni Ka Ric, nagkakantahan.

At ang kanilang usapa’y
Ang bakpey sa sobrang araw
Nilang pinagtrabahuhan.
Nang biglang umalingawngaw!

Mga bagong hamon sa Luisita

Photo by Kenneth Guda, Pinoy Weekly

(Isang balita-lathalain mula sa website ng Kilusang Mayo Uno)

Gaano man pagtakpan ni Noynoy Aquino, imbes na tugunan ang mga hinaing ng mga magbubukid, mas umaarangkada ngayon ang mga iskema para ganap na silang palayasin sa Hacienda Luisita. Engrande kasi ang plano ng mga sakim na nasa kapangyarihan para sa hacienda, kung saan higit nila itong mapagkakakitaan habang tiyak namang masasalanta ang kabuhayan at buhay ng mahigit 5,000 magbubukid dito.

Ultimatum

Tahasang pinatawan ng ultimatum ang mga magbubukid sa isang memorandum na nilagdaan ni Hernan Gregorio Jr., assistant estate manager ng Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) noong Disyembre 18 ng nakaraang taon. Sinasabi ditong “Magsisilbing Pormal na Paabot ang memorandum na ito para sa inyo na huwag nang ipagpatuloy, at itigil ang paggamit, paglilinang, pagtatanim o pag-aari sa nasabing mga bahagi ng lupa sa Oktubre 30, 2009 o bago nito.”

Tila nakakuha ng “go signal,” inilabas ang memorandum isang araw matapos aprubahan ng Senado at Kamara ang Joint Resolution No. 1 para sa pagpapalawig ng huwad na Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Nagrali ang mga magbubukid sa tanggapang pamprobinsya ng DAR noong Oktubre 30 para igiit ang lubos nilang pagtutol. Napaatras naman nang kaunti ang mga Cojuangco, ngunit iniurong lamang sa Nobyembre 15 ang ultimatum.

Ngayon, dahil sa sunud-sunod na kritisismo at sama-samang pagkilos ng mga mamamayan ng Hacienda, itinanggi ni Noynoy at ng pamunuan ng HLI ang inilabas na ultimatum. Sa halip, nagmamalaki pa ngayon ang HLI ng hungkag na iskemang pagpapalayas pa rin naman sa mga magsasaka ang tunguhin.

Stained Yellow Ribbon

The online world, at least the virtual space binding those who subscribe to the ever-fluid landscape of Philippine politics and gossip, has recently taken notice of this sobering image:

Inquirer column: Jesus in yellow

Jesus in yellow
By Patricia Evangelista
Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE GRASS IS YELLOW OUTSIDE THE GATES OF HACIENDA Luisita. Jesus walked here once.

His father watched him die, almost five years to this day. Nov. 16 was when close to 15,000 tenants gathered to protest their treatment under the Cojuanco-owned Hacienda Luisita. Dispersal units charged with a thousand soldiers in full battle gear. The Northern Command numbered over five hundred. Stones and shouts, water cannons, tanks that barreled into gates. It was three in the afternoon. The sun burned yellow. The father heard it first: rifle cracks, a barrage of bullets punching through bodies. Jesus died that day, one of seven reported union deaths. They tell me there are more whose names were never reported.

They called it a massacre. Sen. Benigno Aquino III called it propaganda.

Read more

Luisita: The Continuing Saga

Supporters of striking Hacienda Luisita farmworkers staged a rally last Nov.6 in Mendiola to press for the urgent and unconditional free distribution of the 6,453 hectare Cojuangco estate acquired through deceptive, coercive and brutal means by the Cojuangco clan. (Photo by KMP)

The Continuing Saga of the farmworkers of Hacienda Luisita

by Atty. Jobert Ilarde-Pahilga, executive director Sentro Para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (Sentra), and campaign officer of National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL)

THE ACQUISITION OF THE HACIENDA BY THE COJUANCOS

In 1957, Jose Cojuanco Sr., bought majority shares of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT), including the 6,453-hectare Hacienda Luisita from the Spanish company Compania General de Tabacos de Filipinas (Tabacalera) thrug a loan from the Central Bank. The CAT and hacienda are transferred to Cojuangco’s Tarlac Development Corporation (TADECO), an agricultural corporation.

MARCOS FILED A CASE

On May 7, 1980, the Marcos government filed a case against TADECO before the RTC of Manila for specific performance to compel defendants TADECO, and the heirs of the late Jose Cojuangco, Sr. to turn over “Hacienda Luisita” to the Ministry of Agrarian Reform for the purpose of subdivision and sale at cost to “small farmers” or “tenants”.

On December 2, 1985, the Manila RTC rendered a decision that orders the Cojuangcos to transfer control of Hacienda Luisita to the Ministry of Agrarian Reform, which will distribute the land to small farmers after compensating the landowners P3.988 million.

The Cojuangcos elevated the case to the Court of Appeals which was docketed as CA G.R. 08634. March 17, 1988, the Solicitor General, CB governor and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) filed a motion to dismiss the civil case against the Cojuangcos pending before the Court of Appeals on the ground that Hacienda Luisita would be covered by agrarian reform. Thus, on May 18, 1988, the Court dismissed the case against the Cojuangcos.

THE STOCK DISTRIBUTION PLAN and MOA

On May 9, 1989, the landowners, along with then DAR Secretary Philip Juico, Tarlac governor and the mayors of Tarlac City, Concepcion, and La Paz, the three municipalities covering the hacienda, held referendum among Luisita farm workers to present the SDO. Thereafter, Juico, Tadeco and HLI signed Memorandum of Agreement on the SDO.

In the MOA of May 11, 1989, HLI was designated as the SECOND PARTY to which the TADECO has transferred and conveyed the agricultural portions of Hacienda Luisita and other farm-related properties in exchange for shares of stock of the farm workers. The agricultural lands in Hacienda Luisita which was covered by the MOA consisted of 4,915.75 hectares with an appraised value of P196, 630 million or approximately P40, 000 per hectare.

Based on the MOA the farmworkers supposedly owned 33.296% of the outstanding capital stock of the HLI, which was P355, 531,462 or 355,531,462 shares at 1 peso per share before May 10, 1989. In the stock distribution plan 33.296% of capital stock or P118, 391,976.85 or 118,391,976.85 shares will be distributed to farmworker beneficiaries within 30 years. Thus, the P118 million worth of shares of stocks would be distributed to the farm workers not as a “one-shot deal” but for a period of thirty years at 1/30 per year

As likewise provided on the MOA, the qualified beneficiaries of the stock distribution plan shall be the farmworkers who appear in the annual payroll, inclusive of the permanent and seasonal employees, who are regularly or periodically employed by the TADECO

Thus, the distribution of the farmworkers’ shares of stock is actually based on the number of hours of work or mandays in the hacienda. The mandays in turn, are based on the system of guaranteed mandays, wherein the management of the HLI allocates the number of mandays available for manual work. Moreover, if a farmworker will be dismissed from employment for any cause and therefore his name will not appear in the annual payroll, he will not receive any shares of stock for the year he was dismissed onwards. On the otherhand, a newly employed worker, although he is not a resident of the hacienda and should therefore not be beneficiary of the SDO, as his name appeared on the annual payroll, will receive such shares of stock on the basis of his mandays.

DISMISSAL OF FARMWORKERS AND LOW WAGES

In the year 2003, the daily wage for seasonal workers is P199.17 and for casuals, P194.50 which translates to a maximum of P1, 327.80 and P1, 296, respectively, per month based on 80 guaranteed mandays. After deductions for the loans and advance pays, the average take home pay is P18 for the seasonal, or P9 for the casual for a 2-manday week.

Aside from the diminishing mandays and horrendous and intolerable take home pay, the area of the land originally placed under SDO likewise diminished by Land Use Conversion (LUC).

As guaranteed mandays dwindle, massive lay-off of farm workers in sugar-coated forms like early retirement (replete with quit claim/waiver documents) or the more direct retrenchment become widespread.

Privilege Speech of Rep. Mariano on Luisita Massacre

Delivered today by Anakpawis Rep. Rafael “Paeng” Mariano at the House of Representatives while the documentary “Sa Ngalan ng Tubo” was shown before the plenary.

On the 5th Anniversary of Hacienda Luisita Massacre and Assumption of Jurisdiction

Mr. Speaker, mga kapwa ko kinatawan, narito ako ngayon upang ipaalala sa ating lahat kung ano ang nangyari noong Nobyembre 16, 2004 sa mga magsasaka at manggagawang bukid ng Hacienda Luisita sa Tarlac.

Nagwelga ang mga magsasaka ng Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU) at manggagawang bukid ng United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU) noong Nobyembre 6, 2004 upang iprotesta ang tanggalan sa trabaho, ipaglaban ang makataong sahod at mga benepisyo at higit sa lahat para igiit ang kanilang karapatan sa lupa. Nanawagan silang ibasura na ang Stock Distribution Option bilang isang pekeng reporma sa lupa.

Sa halip na pakinggan ang kanilang mga makatwirang hiling, bala ang isinagot sa kanila ng management ng Hacienda Luisita at ng gobyernong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Mr. Speaker, in the afternoon of November 16, 2004, combined units from the Philippine National Police (PNP) Region 3 and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Northern Luzon Command carried out a brutal massacre of striking sugar plantation workers at the Cojuangco controlled Hacienda Luisita.

After a stand-off with the strikers the day before, around 3 battalions of heavily-armed police and soldiers were sent to the Hacienda, accompanied by two armored personnel carriers, fire trucks and water cannons.  After launching a volley of tear gas grenades, army riflemen fired point-blank into the pickets’ front lines using live ammunition. A 60-calibre machine gun was also used. Truncheon wielding police chased hacienda workers into their barracks and later combed the ten barangays where hacienda workers live.

Mr. Speaker, the order to disperse the picketing workers and farmers emanated from the Assumption of Jurisdiction order (AJ) issued by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

The DOLE-issued Assumption of Jurisdiction order practically became a death warrant for the striking workers. The attack was ordered directly from the government, by then Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas, and was carried out on behalf of the Cojuangco family, prominent landowners in the country.

Today we remember martyrs of the working people – Jesus Laza, Jhaivie Basilio, Juancho Sanchez, Jessie Valdez, Jun David, Jaime Pastidio and Adriano Caballero, who perished in the Hacienda Luisita massacre, the worst slaughter of Filipino workers in modern times.