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Anti-Crime Crusader, RM Awardee, Church
Leaders Back Luisita Workers
An anti-crime crusader,
a Ramon Magsaysay awardee, Church leaders and academic personalities share
one thing in common: they support the battle-scarred striking workers of
the Hacienda Luisita against its owners, the Cojuangco and Aquino clans.
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
An anti-crime
crusader, a Ramon Magsaysay awardee, Church leaders and academic
personalities share one thing in common: they support the battle-scarred
striking workers of the Hacienda Luisita against its owners, the Cojuangco
and Aquino clans.
The anti-crime
crusader, Dante Jimenez of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC);
Dr. Bien Lumbera, 1993 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee in Journalism, Literature
and Creative Communication Arts; Catholic Bp. Deogracias Iñiguez (Caloocan
City); and Bp. Alberto Ramento of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI
or Philippine Independent Church) acted as convenors along with other
leaders in forming Kapitbisig (Link Arms, A Campaign for Justice to the
Victims of the Hacienda Luisita Massacre).
Kapitbisig, a broad
solidarity alliance for the farm and mill workers and their two-month long
strike at Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac
City, was launched Jan. 18 at the
Balai Kalinaw, University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman, Quezon City.
Other convenors
included Sr. Mary Benedict Falcatan, Pastor Marie Sol Villena, the Bagong
Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or
Philippine Peasant Movement) and Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May First
Movement).
Around 6,000 sugar
plantation workers and mill laborers are on strike since Nov. 6 last year
demanding, among others, land distribution, pay increases and the
reinstatement of retrenched workers. Seven striking workers were killed in
an assault by military and police forces on Nov. 16 while more than 40
others were injured. Another peasant leader, Marcelino Beltran, was mowed
down allegedly by soldiers on Dec. 8 in Tarlac.
Jimenez,
lawyer-president of VACC, said during the launch that he never thought
that the Cojuangcos and Aquinos would go to such heights of violence. “I
don’t know what happened to the freedom and democracy they espoused during
the Marcos period,” he said.
Continue the fight
Jimenez urged the
strikers to continue the fight. “We know that the justice system is
rotten,” he said, “but if we unite we will find the justice we are seeking
– in any form, in any way.”
In a subsequent
interview with Bulatlat, Jimenez said that the VACC has committed
to help the families of the Hacienda Luisita victims by monitoring and
following up their claims for damages before the Department of Justice (DoJ)’s
Board of Claims. They are legally entitled to damages amounting to P10,000
($178.57 based on a $1:P56 exchange rate) “as victims of heinous crimes,”
according to Jimenez.
The anti-crime
crusader also disclosed that the VACC will ask law enforcement agencies to
ban policemen with long firearms from mass actions. “This is to prevent
the escalation of violence,” Jimenez said.
“We see that the
Hacienda Luisita incident is a boiling issue that must be taken care of,
and we the people must take a look at this,” Jimenez said when asked about
the reason for the VACC’s decision to get involved in the Hacienda Luisita
issue.
Brazen
On the other hand,
Dr. Lumbera in a separate interview with Bulatlat, denounced the
Tarlac massacre as brazen. “The people, even if they have no links with
the peasants or the place where the crime was committed, should protest
and make it known to the authorities that the violence that happened is a
grave crime against the Filipino people,” he said.
Lumbera is one of the
contributors to Pakikiramay (Condolence), an anthology of poems
condemning the Hacienda Luisita Massacre. Pakikiramay was initiated
by Dr. Joi Barrios, an award-winning poet and a UP professor. Launched
Dec. 13, Pakikiramay features poems by writers like Jesus Manuel
Santiago, Dr. Lilia Quindoza-Santiago, Edel Garcellano, Reuel Molina
Aguila, and Fidel Rillo.
Meanwhile, KMU
chairman Elmer Labog revealed that since Nov. 16, the labor center’s
office has received more than 5,000 letters addressed to Malacañang, the
AFP, and the PNP – all condemning the Nov. 16 dispersal.
Also present at the
launch was Ildefonso Pingol, vice president of the 6,000-strong United
Luisita Workers Union (ULWU), who expressed appreciation for the formation
of Kapitbisig.
Pingol’s sentiments
were echoed by Rodel Mesa, a spokesperson of the Alyansa ng
Manggagawang-Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala or Hacienda Luisita Farm
Workers Alliance), in an interview with Bulatlat.
“We are most thankful
for it,” Mesa said of Kapitbisig’s formation.
“Though they are far
from us,” he said of Kapitbisig’s convenors and members, “they are able to
make their concern felt. Admirable, compared to some who are in Hacienda
Luisita but have not been able to help us in any way.”
Among those who
attended the Kapitbisig launching were Boy Rellosa of the August Twenty
One Movement (ATOM), nationalist and civil libertarian Renato Constantino,
Jr., and constitutionalist and former Labor Undersecretary Amado Gat.
Inciong.
Families of victims
Kapitbisig is
initiated by the families of the Hacienda Luisita victims, the
organizations of workers at the Hacienda Luisita, and other concerned
groups and individuals. They are united on the basis of an “abiding
commitment” to seek justice for the victims.
Among Kapitbisig’s
initiators is Pastor Gabriel Sanchez, father of slain striker Juancho
Sanchez and a former Hacienda Luisita farm worker. Sanchez, together with
Sr. Ellen Belardo of the National Network of Agrarian Reform Advocates (NNARA),
appear to play leading roles in the coalition.
The other convenors
of Kapitbisig are: Bp. Deogracias Iñiguez (Roman Catholic, Caloocan City),
Bp. Alberto Ramento of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI or
Philippine Independent Church) in Tarlac, Sr. Mary Benedict Falcatan,
Pastor Marie Sol Villena, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), Kilusang
Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Philippine Peasant Movement), Kilusang
Mayo Uno (KMU or May First Labor Center);
Bayan-Central Luzon,
NNARA, Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR), Karapatan (Alliance
for the Advancement of People’s Rights), Sentro para sa Tunay na Repormang
Agraryo (Sentra or Center for Genuine Agrarian Reform), Center for Trade
Union and Human Rights-National Coalition for the Protection of Workers
Rights and Welfare (CTUHR-NCPW), Bayan- National Capital Region, and the
Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD);
Confederation for the
Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage),
Kapisanan ng Manggagawa ng GSIS (KMG or GSIS Workers Association), and
Water Systems Employees Response (Water).
Legal and moral support
How is Kapitbisig
going to help the striking workers of Hacienda Luisita?
Kapitbisig, according
to Lumbera, aims to gather material support for the strikers, as well as
financial, legal, and moral support for the victims of the massacre.
In its unity
statement, Kapitbisig pledges to: support the prosecution of the
masterminds and perpetrators of the massacre and continuing investigation
into the case, expose the “unjust
and inhumane working and living conditions” of Hacienda Luisita’s workers
and work to reform these, uphold the workers’ rights to unionize and
strike and their freedom of speech and to oppose the suppression of these
rights.
It also commits to
gather the “broadest support” for genuine land reform in Hacienda Luisita
to “to include the thoroughgoing review of the stock distribution option (SDO)
scheme with a view to its revocation should it be proven a failure in
terms of improving the lot of its supposed beneficiaries,” and gather
support for the repeal of anti-worker laws and policies.
Other efforts
The formation of
Kapitbisig is expected to greatly complement other efforts, so far, by
various sectors in support of the Hacienda Luisita victims.
Bayan, for instance,
has gone on several caravans to Hacienda Luisita.
In late November and
early December, concerned legislators in the Senate and the House of
Representatives led investigations, in aid of legislation, into the
fundamental issues related to the Hacienda Luisita strike.
The multi-media
groups Tudla and Sine Patriyotiko have both come out with video
documentaries on the strike, covering also the Nov. 16 dispersal: Tudla
has Sa Ngalan ng Tubo), while Sine Patriyotiko has Aklasan
(Strike).
Meanwhile, support
continues to come in.
Jan. 20 saw the
founding congress of the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA),
inspired by the unity of the Hacienda Luisita strikers and committed to
uphold the rights and welfare of workers in the agricultural sector.
Support for the Hacienda Luisita strikers is presently among the main
items in its agenda.
At night that same
day, Kilometer 64 – a poets’ group whose most active members are largely
based in Manila – launched a collection of poems protesting against the
oppression of Hacienda Luisita’s workers. Titled Kabyawan (Cane
Harvest Season), the collection contains poems by Kilometer 64 members as
well as a poem each contributed by Gelacio Guillermo, a long-renowned
protest poet and an Hacienda Luisita worker in his youth; and Danilo
Ramos, a farmer from Bulacan and national chairman of the KMP.
The next day, UMA and
other groups under the banner of Bayan trooped to the Don Chino Roces
Bridge in Manila to stage a rally commemorating the 18th
anniversary of the Mendiola Massacre. After the rally, they went on a
caravan to Hacienda Luisita to beef up the strike – which now stands in
danger of another violent dispersal following the issuance of a
return-to-work order by Sto. Tomas.
In a House hearing
Nov. 24, Quezon City Rep. Edcel Lagman questioned Sto. Tomas as to whether
the Cojuangcos and Aquinos had requested for the issuance of the AJ order,
saying that in his experience as a former labor lawyer, AJ orders were
usually issued “at the instance of management.” Sto. Tomas was not able to
answer straight. Bulatlat
UNITY STATEMENT
KAPITBISIG: A Campaign for Justice to the
Victims of the Hacienda Luisita Massacre
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