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

When a shower 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.

Soon, the assembly of striking agri-workers at Gate 1 suffered from a series of violent dispersals by the Philippine National Police (PNP), wherein police forces used teargas, water cannon and truncheons. Workers used sticks and stones to defend themselves, but many were hurt nonetheless. Instead of urging the Cojuangcos to grant the demands of agri-workers in the volatile  hours of the strike, the labor department under former Sec. Patricia Sto. Tomas and with the directive of the issued on Nov. 10 an Assumption of Jurisdiction (AJ) order. The order, which granted the labor secretary a legal basis to send police and military forces to crush the strike, later proved to be the “license to kill” Luisita strikers.

On Nov. 16, DOLE’s AJ order showed off its lethal potency. Six hundred fully armed Northern Luzon Command soldiers, along with a V-150 tank, a payloader and four fire trucks arrived in Gate 1 at around 3 p.m., according to Bulatat’s account. This immense number of military force was in addition to the hundreds of policemen clad in dispersal gear who are already deployed in Luisita. Teargas canisters rained like meteors in front the sugar estate gate, but the strikers maintained their ranks intact. The V-150 tank was then rammed into the Gate of the sugar mill in a highly possible effort to run over the strikers, “which many congressmen investigating the incident have agreed.” Soon, stones were hurled into the combined phalanx of military and police forces as agri-workers defended themselves, attesting to the resolve of the strikers to fight for their legitimate demands. A few minutes after, the strikers signalled their co-workers a halt to the stone-hurling. The fighting then came to a lull – or so they thought.

With their arms waving in the air to signal a “stop,” military and police forces opened gunfire into the mass of strikers, sending them scampering away from Gate 1 for safety. One of the striking workers confirmed at a hearing at the House of Representatives that “it was the police and miitary forces deployed to quell the strike who started the violence.” Raw footages of the strike supported the claim that shots were fired by the time the strikers settled, as reported in an article. But police and military officials have been claiming, even up to now, that it was the strikers who fired the first shot.

The brutal dispersal claimed the lives of seven striking agri-workers. A summary of the incident by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan described the death of the seven martyrs: two of the victims who later died were shot while they attempted to clamber up a fire truck. One was shot a few meters from the perimeter fence adjacent to the gate. Two were found dead in the creek about three meters away from the barbed wire at the left side of Gate 1. Another was fatally wounded while running away from the gate with his father and the last victim was hit while running across the oval.

Hundreds more were injured. Around 111 were arrested and detained in Camp Macabulos on charges of carrying weapons and guns. A video documentary by Mayday Productions titled “Sa Ngalan ng Tubo” captured the shooting spree on the mass of strikers, with the cameraman himself running away from Gate 1 to seek cover behind farm trucks. When gunshots subsided, wails echoed in what was earlier a ground of battle. Later in the evening, Filipinos would learn of the atrocity in the Cojuangco-owned land in the primetime news.

Despite the harrowing outcome of the armed forces’ dispersal, President Gloria Arroyo even ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police to deploy fresh troops in Luisita the day after the massacre, a Sunstar article reported. On the same day, Sen Jinggoy Estrada condemned in his privilege speech what he called “senseless and unnecessary act of violence in Hacienda Luisita,” which he said was “perpetuated by those who, in the first place, are supposed to protect the rights of our people.” At the House of Representatives, militant lawmakers Rafael Mariano, Satur Ocampo, Liza Maza, Tedoro Casiño and Joel Virador filed a resolution calling for an inquiry on the legality of military intervention in implementing the labor department’s assumption of jurisdiction.

Public condemnation of the massacre appeared to have no effect on the perpetrators, as the killing in Luisita continued even beyond Nov. 16. Marcelino Beltran, chairperson of a peasant alliance in Tarlac, became the eighth victim when “visitors pumped bullets into his body” on Dec. 8, a Bulatlat report stated. The murder ironically took place on eve of the nationwide protest against the Luisita massacre. In the months that followed, peasant leaders and supporters were slain, including Ric Ramos, the president of CATLU.

Despite the overwheming amount of evidence, no one is prosecuted up to present. The Cojuangco family has consistently dodged the issue, while military and police officials together with the labor department all invoke the Assumption of Jurisdiction as justification of the action. Justice has been continually denied to the Luisita farmers and farmworkers.

In the failure of local courts, Luisita agri-workers, through labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno, sought attention of the International Labor Organization (ILO). Last September, workers in Luisita wrote to the visiting ILO panel to ask an investigation on the Nov 16. Massacre. But the ILO team has went only as far as issuing general recommendations after the conduct of its mission in the country.

Five years have gone since the fateful day of Nov 16, yet the bloody trail has remained clear in the hearts and minds of Luisita farmers and workers. As for Sen. Noynoy Aquino, the much publicized Cojuangco at the moment, the Luisita massacre will be an indelible stain on his way to the 2010 elections. #

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.

“Five years after the massacre, we have three main demands in relation to Hacienda Luisita. First, distribute the hacienda lands now! Second, justice for the victims of the massacre and extra-judicial killings! And third, scrap Assumption of Jurisdiction (AJ)!” he said.

Maglunsod said that the Stock Distribution Option, which was implemented by the hacienda owners, should be junked, so that farmers can own the lands. He said that five years after the massacre, not much progress has been done to the cases filed against those criminally liable for the incident.

He also said that the AJ issued by then-DOLE Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas served as the “license to kill” for the military and police forces deployed to the strike.

Meanwhile, Randall Echanis, Anakpawis 3rd nominee for the 2010 elections, KMP deputy secretary-general, and the object of politically-motivated trumped-up charges, said that apart from the seven who were killed in the massacre, more leaders and supporters of the strike were gunned down months after the massacre.

“The brutality towards the Luisita farmers and farmworkers went beyond the hacienda and Nov. 16, 2004. We are also calling for justice for all of them,” Echanis said, citing the cases of union leader Ric Ramos, Iglesia Filipina Independiente bishop Alberto Ramento, Tarlac City councilor Abel Ladera, union leader Tirso Cruz among others. #

________________________________________________________

6:00 a.m. – Assembly in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Quezon Memorial Circle, QC

8:00 a.m. – Start of caravan to Luisita

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.”

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!

Ang putok na nakadungaw
Ng M14 itinambang
Sa makapal na halaman
Nang nanubok sa inuman.

Habulang himig: Bang! Bang! Bang!
Nagkanya-kanyang pulasan,
Kasamang nabiglaanan;
Si Ka Ric, nakahandusay!

Labing walo na’ng namatay
Sa loob ng dal’wang buwan,
At ang pinagbibintanga’y
Ang militar: si Palparan.

Sigaw naman ni Palparan:
Mas marami daw kalaban
Ang nasa kaliwang hanay,
Sila-sila’y nagkatayan.

Kayo, aking kababayan!
Sinong paniniwalaan?
Ang nasa Pamahalaan
O masang gapos ang kamay?
Oktubre 26, 2005
Angeles City

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.
Imbentaryo

Ayon kay Atty. Antonio Ligon, tagapagsalita ng HLI, ang nais lang umano nilang mangyari ay magkaroon ng “imbentaryo” ng lahat ng “lehitimong benepisyaryo” ng lupa sa Hacienda. Ang deadline na Nobyembre 15 ay para lang umano sa pagpaparehistro para maging lehitimong benepisyaryo. May mga “ilehitimong” nakikisaka raw kasi sa 2,000 ektaryang lupang binubungkal na ngayon ng mga magbubukid (mula sa 6,453 ektarya ng HLI) para sa sariling pangangailangan.

“Sino’ng inuuto nila? Ilang dekada nang nagbubungkal ng lupa ang mga pamilya ng magbubukid doon. Matagal na silang sigurado kung sino ang dapat magmay-ari at makinabang sa lupa. Huwag nang magpanggap ang mga Cojuangco na sila pa ngayon ang may karapatang magtukoy kung kanino dapat mapunta ang lupa,” ani Joselito Ustarez, executive vice president ng KMU.

Ipinagmamalaki pa ni Ligon na hinding-hindi magagawa ng HLI na magpalayas ng magbubukid, at maaari umano nilang palawigin ang deadline kahit kailan.

“Hugas-kamay na ang mga Cojuangco sa malinaw na pagpapalayas na isinasaad sa inilabas nilang memorandum,” ani Ustarez. “Bakit pa itinakda ang mga petsang iyon? Malinaw na target nilang unti-unting paalisin ang mga magbubukid.”

Bangkarote

Ganit na ipamigay ng mga Cojuangco sa mga magbubukid ang lupa, pero malinaw na pinahihintulutan nila umano ang labis na pag-takeover ng mga bangko rito.

Kamakailan, inangkin na umano ng Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) ang 150 ektaryang lupain sa hacienda, dahil may hindi raw nabayarang utang sa kanila ang mga Cojuangco. Naglagay na sila ng mga security guard na rumoronda sa lupain, at pinagbabawalang bungkalin ito ng mga magbubukid.

Marami pa umanong bangko ang kumukwestyon sa pagtatanim ng mga magsasaka sa maraming parte ng hacienda, at nagsasabing sa kanila raw dapat ang lupa dahil rerematahin na nila ito dahil sa mga utang ng mga Cojuangco.

“Pinapalabas pa ngayong may tug of war sa pagitan ng mga Cojuangco at ng mga bangko hinggil sa pagmamay-ari sa lupa. Kailan pa nagkaroon ang gahamang angkan na iyon ng mga utang na di nabayaran – bukod sa utang ng ninuno nilang ginamit pambili ng hacienda? At bakit ipinareremata nila ang lupang di naman kanila?” kwestyon ni Ustarez.

Land (Ab)use Plan

Kung muling titingnan ang mga inilatag nang plano para sa hacienda, matagal nang iginuhit ng gobyerno ang tadhana nito – para talaga pakinabangan ng malalaking negosyante, at walang wala sa plano ang interes ng nakararaming magsasaka.

Ayon sa Land Use Plan na ginawa ng Luisita Realty Corporation noong 1998, ang 3,290 ektaryang lupain sa Hacienda ay tatayuan ng golf course, mga mall, theme park,  industrial park, at iba pang komersyal na establisimyento.

Sa ngayon, naigagapang na ang mga ito. Ilan sa mga naipatayo na ang Luisita Industrial Park 1 na sumasalaw ng 120 ektarya, Luisita Industrial Park 2 sa 500 ektarya, ang Luisita Business Park sa 20 ektarya, at ang Aqua Farm and Homesite sa 50 ektarya.

Sagasa

Isa pa sa sentral na balakin sa lupain ng hacienda ang pagtawid dito ng ipinagmamalaking proyekto ni Gloria Arroyo na Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX). Ito ang magiging pinakamahabang tollway sa bansa, aabot ng 94 na kilometro, na tutulay sa iba’t ibang economic zone sa bansa gaya ng Subic Bay Special Ecozone, Free Port Zone sa Zambales, Clark Special Economic Zone sa Pampanga, at mga industrial park sa Luisita.

May 66 na ektarya ng lupa ng hacienda ang tinatayang direktang sasaklawin ng daan. “Ngunit asahan nating lalong itutulak ng SCTEX ang pagkomersyalisa sa mga karatig-lupain ng hacienda. Swak ito sa imahen ng golf course, mga park at mall na gustung-gusto nang makita at mapagkakitaan ng malalaking negosyante,” ani Ustarez.

Ang naturang pagpapagawa ng SCTEX at mga eco-zone sa Luzon ay bahagi ng Global Gateway Project ni Arroyo na nasa 10-point agenda nito sa kanyang termino.

“Simula pa lang, malinaw ang pagpabor ni Gloria sa mga kapwa sakim na negosyante, at inilatag na niya ang pagbura sa mapa ng hacienda ng mahigit 5,000 magsasaka’t manggagawang bukid dito,” dagdag ni Ustarez.

Conversion

Para maisagawa ang pagkokomersyalisa ng mga lupa sa hacienda, kailangang isailalim sa palit-gamit ng lupa o land-use conversion ang 4,415 ektaryang lupain nitong itinuturing pa sa kasalukuyan bilang lupang agrikultural.

“At ito mismo ang layunin ng pagpasa sa ektensyon ng CARP – ang padaliin ang pag-convert ng mga lupa na dapat ay pakinabangan ng mga magsasaka. Laman ng mga probisyon nito ang madaling paraan para mag-apply ng re-classification sa mga nasasaklaw na lupa,” ani Ustarez.

Lalaya rin ang Luisita

Sa pag-arangkada ng mga iskema para palayasin ang mga magbubukid sa hacienda, at sa pagbabanta ng planong pagkomersyalisa sa buong lupain nito, sumisigabo rin ang paglaban ng mga magbubukid para tiyaking hindi ito matutupad.

“Marami nang buhay ang ibinuwis para makuha ng mga magbubukid ang nararapat na kanila,” ani Ustarez. Sa Nobyembre 16, ikalimang anibersaryo ng pagmasaker sa mga nagwelga noong 2004 na pumatay sa pito at sumugat sa maraming iba sa kasagsagan ng welga noon.

“Ang laban sa lupa sa Hacienda Luisita ay laban para sa katarungang panlipunan, para sa kalayaan di lang ng mga nagsasaka doon, kundi ng lahat ng nakatuntong sa malawak na lupang pinagsasamantalahan.”

Sa anibersaryo ng masaker, magkakaroon ng caravan ang libu-libong manggagawa, magbubukid at anakpawis patungong Luisita upang labanan ang kasalukuyang pagtatangka ng mga may-ari nito na agawan ng lupa ang mga magbubukid, at sariwain ang diwa ng pinagbuwisan ng buhay ng mga magbubukid limang taon na ang nakalipas. #

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

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.

THE LAND USE CONVERSION IN HACIENDA LUISITA

On August 15, 1995, HLI applied for conversion a 500 hectares land of the hacienda.

On September 1, 1995, the Sangguniang Bayan ng Tarlac reclassified 3,290 hectares of hacienda Luisita from agricultural to commercial, industrial and residential purposes.

On August 14, 1996, DAR approved the conversion of 500 hectares of the 3,290 hectares of reclassified Luisita land and has already been converted into the Luisita Industrial Park.

The 500 hectares were sold for over two billion pesos (P2,000,000,000.00) yet, the farmworkers were only given P37.5 million by treating the same as 3% of gross sale from the production. In this year of 2006, sixty six (66) hectares is converted to make way for infrastructure projects like the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.

THE PETITIONS FOR THE REVOCATION OF THE SDO

On September 28, 2003 elections for farm workers’ and supervisors’ representatives to the HLI Board of Directors only 15.26% of the shares voted thereof. Around 95% of the farm workers boycotted the elections as a protest to the SDO and because the four board seats were useless against seven management seats.

On October 14, 2003, the Supervisory Group of Hacienda Luisita, Inc. filed petition before the DAR to revoke SDO, saying the HLI was not giving them dividends, their one percent (1%) share in gross sales and thirty percent (33%) share in the proceeds from the conversion of 500 hectares of land. They likewise cited other violations by the HLI of the MOA and that their lives have not improved contrary to the promise and the rationale for the adoption of the SDO.

On October 7, 2003, during the opening of the milling season, more than a thousand farmworkers gathered to protest the SDO, land-use conversion, joblessness at the hacienda.

On December 4, 2003, around 80% of the 5,339 farmworkers at the hacienda through their organization, AMBALA, filed a petition to DAR to nullify and rescind the SDO and to stop land-use conversion at the hacienda.

THE TASK FORCE LUISITA AND PRESIDENTIAL AGRARIAN REFORM COUNCIL (PARC).

On November 6, 2004, members of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU) and members of the United Luisita Workers’ Union (ULWU) simultaneously staged a strike and blocked the mill’s Gate 1 and Gate 2. The strike arose from the deadlock in the negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between CATLU and HLI (HLI) and the illegal dismissal of 327 farm workers belonging to ULWU on October 1, 2004.

On November 16, 2004 a violent dispersal of striking workers leave seven (7) dead, scores were injured. This has been known as the infamous Hacienda Luisita Massacre.

On November 22, 2004, the DAR issued Special Order No. 789 which called for the strengthening of the Task Force Stock Distribution Option through the PARC Secretariat.

On Nov. 25, 2004, the DAR task force stock distribution, later renamed Task Force Luisita, convened for the first time to discuss the petitions by Luisita supervisors and farmworkers. Prior thereto, HLI filed with the DAR its answer to the petition/protest filed by the supervisory group of respondent Zuniga and Andaya.

On March 15, 2005, DAR deployed 10 teams to 10 barangays within the hacienda to conduct focus group discussions with 453 farmers concerning their understanding of SDO, the supposed benefits thereof, the home lots and other provisions of the agreement, their recommendations on the SDO, and to determine whether there is truth to the allegations of the farmworkers that they have been pushed deeper into the quagmire of poverty by the SDO and MOA.

THE DAR TERMINAL REPORT AND RESOLUTIONS OF PARC.

In July 2005, Task Force Luisita submitted its report on findings and recommendations to DAR Secretary Nasser C. Pangandaman especially as regards the investigation conducted on March 15, 2005.

In August 2005, Pangandaman created a special legal team to review the legal issues in the task force’s report.

On September 23, 2005, DAR special legal team submitted its terminal report on the two petitions, recommending the revocation of the 16-year-old SDO agreement in Hacienda Luisita.

On 23 December 2005, PARC issued Resolution No. 2005-32-01 which recalled/revoked the SDO plan of TADECO/HLI and placed the lands subject SDO plan under the compulsory coverage scheme of the CARP.

On January 3, 2006, HLI filed its motion for reconsideration of the said resolution.

PETITION FOR CERTIORARI AND TRO ISSUED BY SC

In February 2006, despite the pendency of the Motion for Reconsideration it has filed, HLI filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition against the PARC et al., before the Supreme Court.

Meantime, on May 3, 2006 PARC denied the motion for reconsideration of HLI.

In June 2006, the Supreme Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) which enjoins PARC and DAR to implement/execute the resolution revoking the SDO.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

In June of this year, HLI issued demand letters to the farmwokers to stop the cultivation of the hacienda. The farmworkers were give deadline until October 30, 2009. However, the farmworkers defied the demand and the deadline.

In October of this year, HLI again issued another letter to the farmworkers requiring the farmworkers to register with HLI. They were given until November 15, 2009. But, the farmworkers will again defy the order.

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.

Sumunod pa ang mga isa-isang pagpaslang sa mga tagasuporta ng welga sa Hacienda Luisita sina Ricardo Ramos, presidente ng CATLU; Tirso Cruz, director ng ULWU; Marcelino “Ka Marsing” Beltran, lider magsasaka sa Tarlac at Anakpawis –Tarlac provincial chairperson; Ben Concepcion, Anakpawis – Pampanga chairperson; Florante Collantes, Bayan Muna-Tarlac provincial Chair; Tarlac City Councilor Abelardo Ladera, Fr. William Tadena, ng Iglesia Filipina Independiente.

Mr. Speaker, hanggang ngayon, wala pa ring katarungan ang kanilang kamatayan sa kamay ng mga pulis at sundalo ng gobyerno. Hanggang ngayon, nananawagan pa rin ng hustisya ang kanilang mga kaanak, mga kapwa manggagawa at magsasaka.

Hanggang ngayon, nakakalaya pa rin ang mga salarin at pumapatay pa ng maraming mga manggagawa, magsasaka, mamamahayag, aktibista at kritiko ng gobyerno.

Mr. Speaker, ang AJ order na ginamit upang buwagin ang welga sa Hacienda Luisita ang mismong kautusan rin na matagal nang ginagamit ng gobyerno at mga ganid na kapitalista at malaking panginoong maylupa tulad ng mga Cojuangco upang pigilan ang mga manggagawa na isagawa ang kanilang batayang karapatan sa pag-uunyon at sama-samang pagkilos.

Article 263 (g) of the Labor Code of the Philippines states that the DoLE secretary shall have the power to assume jurisdiction in all industrial strikes considered as “indispensable to the national interest.” Lubhang mali ang esensya ng Assumption of Jurisdiction ng isang Kalihim ng DOLE. Ito ay labag sa Konstitusyon, sa karapatang pantao at sa ILO Convention No. 87 on freedom of associations.

Mr. Speaker, ang AJ ang nagbigay ng pambihirang kapangyarihan sa iisang tao, sa Kalihim ng Paggagawa, na ituring na para sa “pambansang interes ang Hacienda Luisita!  Kagila-gilalas na maging isang isyu ng “national interest” ang usapin ng Hacienda Luisita para ipatawag ang kapulisan at kasundaluhan upang pigilan ang welga ng mga manggagawang bukid at magsasaka sa Hacienda. Ang ganitong sitwasyon ay pagdedeklara na ng isang “emergency situation” na ayon sa ating batas ay nasa kapangyarihan lamang ng Presidente ang pagpapatawag nito batay sa mga kinakailangang rekisito. At maging ang kapangyarihang ito ng Presidente ay hindi maaring abusuhin, ayon na rin sa desisyon ng Korte Suprema sa katulad na kaso ng Executive Order 1017.

Paulit-ulit na ginagamit ang AJ para gipitin ang mga manggagawa at durugin ang mga unyon at welga. Kaya naman malakas ang panawagan ng mga manggagawa. para sa pagbabasura sa Assumption of Jurisdiction Order kahit sa panahon pa ng dating Kinatawan Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran.

Hanggang ngayon, nakabinbin pa rin sa Committee ang House Bill 5095 na pagbabasura sa Assumption of Jurisdiction.

Dahil sa panghihimasok ng militar sa labor dispute sa loob ng Hacienda Luisita di namin maiwasang umabot ang aming pagsusuri na may malaking kaugnayan ang paggamit ng AJ ng Labor Code ng DOLE at ng Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL) ng AFP. Patunay dito ay ang iba’t ibang kaso ng military intervention sa mga lugar pagawaan na ipinanukalang imbestigahan ng kinatawang ito.

Mr. Speaker, we cannot but think that there is a connection between the use of AJ and the policy of Oplan Bantay Laya! Aside from imposition of AJ order, militarization of workplaces in strike-bound companies or where a labor dispute exists between management and workers and where existing unions or unions being organized are considered progressive or militant continue. Military detachments are put up and/or deployment of police and military elements under the pretext of counter-insurgency operations take place.   Nagbabase at nagtatayo ng kampo ang PNP at AFP sa mga lugar pagawaan upang takutin at iharass ang mga manggagawang may unyon o nagbubuo ng unyon.

Ilan dito ang mga sumusunod:

- 16th Infantry Batallion sa Robina Farms, Antipolo, Rizal

- Special Welfare Action Group (SWAG) sa mga  industrial parks at economic zones sa Laguna at Cavite

- 66th Infantry Batallion at Workers for Industrial Peace and Reforms o WIPER sa mga plantasyon ng saging sa Compostela Valley.

- 10th Infantry Division sa Dole Philippines agrocorporation sa Polomolok, South Cotabato

Mr. Speaker, the industrial peace espoused by the government and DOLE has killed 92 workers, labor leaders and advocates since 2001. For nine years, the implementation of the AJ under the Arroyo administration has made factories and workplaces a very dangerous place for workers.

AJ’s string of attacks against workers had trampled upon the workers’ Constitution-mandated right to organize, form unions and collective bargaining agreement, and against their basic right to life and liberty and what is condemnable is the lack of any form of protection that ordinary citizens can get from the state and much more justice to the victims of the Hacienda Luisita Massacre!.

Mr. Speaker, nananawagan ang kinatawang ito ng hustisya sa lahat ng biktima ng Hacienda Luisita Massacre, sa mga manggagawang pinagkakaitan ng karapatan nila para sa tunay na reporma sa lupa, at panahon ng irepaso ng Kamara at lubusan na nitong tanggalin ang AJ at ipatupad na ang  pagbabasura sa SDO.

Lubos ding nakikiisa ang Anakpawis at ang mga kinatawan nito sa mga manggagawa sa mga magbubukid ng Hacienda Luisita na patuloy na iginigiit ang karapatang magmay-ari sa lupain ng HLI na haba na ng panahon ng kanilang pagtatrabaho ay kanila ng nabayaran.  Tutal, namuhay na ng mariwasa ang mga Cojuangco dito napakatagal na panahon at may iba pa silang kabuhayan bakit di pa nila ito bitawan!

Mr. Speaker, nanawagan ang kinatawang ito na ipatupad na ang pagbabasura ng SDO dahil ito ay hindi isang reporma sa lupa. Isa itong pag-ikot sa batas at sa layuning ng isang tunay na reporma sa lupa na ibigay sa mga nagtatrabaho sa lupa ang lupang kanilang sinaka, pinagyaman at inaruga sa mahabang panahon!

Mr. Speaker, Ang hamong ito ay ibinabato din ng kinatawang ito sa mga tatakbo sa pagka-presidente lalo na isa sa “nagmamay-ari” sa Hacienda Luisita, kay Sen. Noynoy Aquino.  Bilang mambabatas ay dapat manindigan si Sen. Aquino para sa katarungan sa mga biktima ng Hacienda Luisita Massacre at sa mga biktima ng SDO sa ilalim ng huwad na CARP at ngayon ay CARPER! .

Hamon din ng masang Pilipino sa lahat ng mga tatakbo para sa public office, sa pagka-presidente na isabatas at ipatupad ang tunay na hustisya sa lipunan; ito ang sustansya ng batas! Pagsilbihin ang batas sa mas nakakarami, hindi sa iilan – ito ang batayang depinisyon ng demokrasya!

Ito lamang Mr. Speaker at kapwa ko kinatawan. Maraming salamat at magandang hapon. #

as delivered, November 9, 7:10 pm