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Photo Essay:
Pasko at Hacienda
Luisita
Yes, there is still a Pasko
(Christmas) at Hacienda Luisita, where to date eight people have been
confirmed killed for demanding a decent life. It is testimony to the
resilience of the Hacienda Luisita workers that they could still make room
for some Christmas cheer even as they continue to mourn the deaths of
comrades felled in the struggle for a decent life.
PHOTOS BY DABET CASTAÑEDA
TEXT BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
 
SYMBOLS OF STRUGGLE: Youngest son and widow
(left) of Marcelino Beltran offer land while two of the slain strikers'
relatives tear pay slips and stock certificates (right).
Yes, Virginia, there
is Christmas at Hacienda Luisita, that vast Cojuangco-owned sugar
plantation in Tarlac (120 kms. north of
Manila).
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Strikers and supporters pledge to continue
the fight |
There is still
Christmas at that hacienda where seven workers on strike to demand
land distribution, higher wages, and more mandays were killed in a
dispersal by police-military forces. (A few weeks later, peasant leader
Marcelino “Ka Marcing” Beltran, set to testify in Congress in behalf of
the strikers, was shot dead on the eve of his birthday – bringing the
number of Hacienda Luisita martyrs to eight.)
The strikers and their families held a Christmas program Dec. 26 at
Gate 1 of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT), where the picket line
stands.
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But it was not the
usual Christmas party. They did not let the day’s merry-making drown their
mourning for their fallen fellow strikers.
The Christmas stars
they used to decorate the picket line had the pictures and names of their
fallen comrades on them. They also offered to the martyrs’ memory symbols
of the Hacienda Luisita struggle: soil, sugarcane stalks, a bolo, a
hammer, a book, copies of the plantation worker’s pay slip and stock
certificate, pieces of barbed wire and the destroyed CAT Gate 1, and
bullets and a “last will” of the eight Hacienda Luisita martyrs.
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Injured striker makes effort at signing
agricultural workers' unity statement - his writing hand in bandage
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The Hacienda Luisita
workers were not the only ones there. There were agricultural workers from
other parts of Central Luzon. That same day, in that same program, they
formed the Central Luzon-wide Ugnayan ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA
or Agricultural Workers Network) – drawing inspiration from the solid
unity of Hacienda Luisita’s strikers.
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It is said that
Christmas is for children, and after all that there were the usual stuff
for the youngsters of Hacienda Luisita, the games and gift-giving – toy
pots and pans for the girls, and wind-up toys for the boys.
Of course no
Christmas program would not be complete without food. The workers and their
families and friends feasted on pancit (noodles), rice and pork.
Egged on by an elder, boy tries his luck
at the sack race. The sack bears a slogan condemning the Nov. 16 massacre.
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It is testimony to
the resilience of the Hacienda Luisita workers that they could still make
room for some Christmas cheer even as they continue to mourn the deaths of
comrades felled in the struggle for a decent life. Bulatlat
Christmas stars at Hacienda Luisita
picket line bear names and pictures of slain strikers
Photos by Dabet Castañeda
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© 2004 Bulatlat
■ Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified. |
