BY Abner Bolos

GLNS/Bulatlat

Posted 6:39 p.m., Apr. 27, 2006

City of San Fernando—After almost a year of protest, workers in Hacienda Luisita have succeeded in pushing the government to declare as illegal quarrying operations for the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway Project [SCTEP] inside the hacienda.

Officials of the Department of Agrarian Reform [DAR], Department of Environment and Natural Resources [DENR] and the provincial government of Tarlac reached a consensus in a dialogue with officers of the United Luisita Workers’ Union [ULWU] last April 26 that quarrying operations for the SCTEP in the hacienda is illegal and must be stopped.

“We expect the DENR to issue an order to stop the quarrying operations until Friday [April 28],” Teofilo Inocencio, DAR regional director for Central Luzon said during a multi-agency dialogue with ULWU held at the Fishermen’s Grill in San Fernando City on Wednesday.

Reynaldo Cruz, officer-in-charge of the licensing department, Bureau of Mines, DENR regional office said the department will immediately send a letter to the Hazama Corp. a contractor of the SCTEP, ordering the cessation of all illegal quarry operations in the hacienda. 

No permit

In the dialogue, Alfredo Reyes, DAR Tarlac provincial agrarian reform officer presented a “special permit to extract” issued by Tarlac governor Jose V. Yap to a certain Rolando Tongco that covers only five [5] has. in barangay Asturias, Tarlac City .

The permit allows the holder to extract and haul some 50,000 cu. meters of sand from February 13 to May 12, 2006.

But ULWU has complained that more than 40 has. have been excavated for quarrying purposes covering not only barangay Asturias but also barangays Pasajes and Bantog  . In Asturias alone, ten [10] has. are being used for quarrying operations exceeding the permit issued by Gov. Yap, according to ULWU officers.

Felix Nacpil Jr., ULWU board of directors member representing barangay Pasajes told GLNS that aside from the 10 has. in Asturias, about 21 has. in Pasajes and 17 has. in Bantog are being used for the quarrying operations without legal permit.

He said that last week, SCTEP contractors have also begun excavating in barangay Cut-cut II in spite of protest from union members.

He told GLNS that last April 17, when government officials conducted an ocular investigation at the hacienda, quarrying operations stopped but resumed the next day.

Confirming the illegality of the quarry operations, Rolando Cordova, representative of the Tarlac governor’s office said that Tongco, the holder of the special permit, has been fined two times and has paid a total P164,000 in penalties to the provincial government.

Dummy?

But Tongco may only be a dummy for Hazama Corp.

On November 17, 2005, Hazama Corp. signed a memorandum of agreement [MOA] with the Hacienda Luisita Inc. [HLI] for a quarrying contract inside the hacienda for the construction of the SCTEP over a period of one [1] year from November 18, 2005 to November 18, 2006.

Hazama Corp. is a partner of Hazama-Taisei-Nippon Steel Joint Venture [HTN-JV]. HTN-JV was awarded by the Base Conversion Development Authority [BCDA] the contract to construct the SCTEP Package 2, Clark-Tarlac section that passes through Hacienda Luisita.

Hazama Corp. is the buyer of the 300 has. portion of the 500 has. lot in the hacienda that was converted to non-agricultural use by HLI in 1996.

“HLI presented itself as the rightful owner of the land intended for quarrying operation [sic] within the Hacienda Luisita,” the MOA reads.

The agreement allows HTN-JV to excavate anywhere inside the hacienda and the excavated areas “shall be converted by HLI into a reservoir.”

The HLI is obligated to secure the environmental compliance certificate [ECC] for the quarrying operations from the DENR as well as all necessary permits, according to the MOA which was signed Emmanuel Cochico, HLI corporate secretary and Kunio Kimata, HTN-JV project manager.

However, recent media reports revealed that quarrying operations in the hacienda are being done without the ECC.

“In the absence of a legal permit to quarry, they may have resorted to a special, but very limited quarry permit issued by the provincial government in the hope of covering their tracks and misleading the people. Tongco may be a dummy for the SCTEP contractors with the full knowledge of HLI,” Joseph Canlas, Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson (AMGL or the Alliance of Peasants in Central Luzon) chairperson told GLNS.

Disregarding the law

Canlas, who also attended the multi-agency dialogue as part of the ULWU panel, said

the quarry issue in the hacienda again shows how the Cojuangco-Aquino family disregards the law just to keep on benefiting from the land which now legally belongs to the farm workers.

ULWU president Rene Galang said “the MOA [for the quarry operation] is illegal. HLI has no more right to claim ownership over the hacienda after the revocation of the SDO [stock distribution option] in October last year.”

But beyond the legalities [on the quarry issue], Galang said what matters most for the workers is their claim to the land and the continuing attempts to reduce it even after the SDO was revoked.

He said the union is working not only to stop the quarry operation but the road project itself adding that the SCTEP is a part of the design of the Cojuangco family and the government to implement large scale land use conversion in the hacienda.

 The P27.5-billion road project that cuts through some 66 has. inside the hacienda started in April last year. It will connect the Subic Bay Freeport and Special Economic Zone in Zambales, Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga and the Luisita Industrial Park in Tarlac.

Once built, the 93.7 km.-long expressway is touted to be the most extensive road network in the country covering some 536 has. across the provinces of Tarlac,  Zambales, Bataan and Pampanga. It is funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

In September last year, workers and their families formed themselves into human barricades to prevent bull dozers from clearing the land.

The murders of union leaders Ricardo Ramos and Tirso Cruz have also been linked to their opposition to the SCTEP. GLNS/Posted by Bulatlat 

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