This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 18, June 12-18, 2005
Luisita Workers
Reject GMA Expressway; Press for Her Ouster
After stopping plantation and
milling operations at Hacienda Luisita, cane workers and their families gear up
for blocking the construction of one of President Macapagal-Arroyo’s flagship
projects – a super expressway.
By Abner Bolos
Controversial project At the outset, the project
has been marred with delays and controversies. When the loan agreement was
signed between BCDA and JBIC on Sept. 14, 2001, the loan package was worth only
P17.8 billion. On July 20, 2004 the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA)
asked the BCDA to conduct another bidding after the project cost ballooned to
more than P27 billion. NEDA Director General
Romulo L.Neri said at that time that another bidding was necessary because the
project was redesigned and also to “avoid legal problems, such as the Supreme
Court nullifying the contract, like in the case of the Ninoy Aquino
International Airport Terminal.” On Aug. 16, 2004, Quezon
Rep. Danilo Suarez passed House Resolution No. 95 which called for an inquiry on
alleged overpricing of the first phase of the SCTEP. Suarez said then that with
the current price, construction cost is P310 million per kilometer for the
four-lane highway but average cost for a similar project is only about P70 to
P100 million. Environmental concerns were
also swept aside for the project to push through. In September 2004 the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) allowed the destruction
of a virgin forest reserve at the Roosevelt Protected Landscape in Dinalupihan,
Bataan to give way for the project. In January 2005, JBIC
threatened to withdraw funding for the project because of the value-added tax
and import duties worth P2.3 billion that may be levied on the bank. The
government, upon request of the BCDA, immediately exempted JBIC and included a
tax subsidy for the Japanese bank in the 2005 budget. Another cause of delay is
the payment for right-of-way acquisitions. BCDA had to secure a P1 billion loan
from a local private bank for its counterpart funding which includes
right-of-way payments. In the case of Hacienda
Luisita, Galang clarified that union members are not that concerned with money
from government acquisition of land for the project. “We are opposed to the
project because it is a direct threat to our survival. It will open the
floodgates of more large-scale land conversion and with that, our stake in the
land,” Galang explained. But even then, management
lawyers say that farm workers are not entitled to a single centavo from
right-of-way fees unless the corporation decides to do so in terms of stock
dividends. ULWU, together with the
Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU), the 700-strong sugar mill
workers’ union, launched a simultaneous strike in November last year which has
become the bloodiest and most controversial labor dispute in the country. An assumption of
jurisdiction (AJ) order issued by the government led to the Nov. 16 massacre
which resulted in the death of at least seven strikers allegedly by government
troops. In the ensuing months, four supporters of the striking workers: two
farmer leaders, a city councilor and a priest would be assassinated. The unions blame the Arroyo
government and the military for the killings. After seven months, the
workers still man several picket lines surrounding the sugar mill and have vowed
to continue with the strike. © 2004 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Bulatlat
The much-delayed Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway Project (SCTEP), one of the 10
flagship programs of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, may yet face its biggest
hitch: the striking workers in Hacienda Luisita will not allow it to be built on
the sugar plantation. Saying that the project is the final proof of the
insensitivity of the Arroyo government to their plight, the cane workers demand
instead that the president step down from power.
Rene Galang, president of the 5,000-strong United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU)
said June 11 that the family of former President Cojuangco-Aquino, instead of
implementing a court decision to distribute the land to the tillers, managed to
hold on to the 6,000-ha. sugar plantation and profited immensely through land
use conversion since the government implemented the Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Program (CARP) 17 years ago.
In an interview with Bulatlat, Galang said the road project is “part of a
systematic land-grabbing scheme by the Cojuangco-Aquino family, in collusion
with the Arroyo government, to further deprive us of our legitimate rights.”
“This is the last straw,” he also said. “The Arroyo government clearly sided
with the Cojuangco family in the labor dispute and was responsible for the death
of at least 10 of our members and supporters. We cannot allow her to do anymore
injustice on the poor hacienda people by constructing (the SCTEP) inside the
hacienda. We demand that she step down from Malacañang,” Galang.
The government announced last April the start of the P27.5-billion road project
which 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. The project
will be funded through a 40-year loan from the Japan Bank for International
Cooperation (JBIC).
Once built, the SCTEP is touted to be the longest road network in the country
covering some 94.5 kilometers. About 536 hectares stretching across the
provinces of Zambales, Bataan, Pampanga and Tarlac will be used for the project,
some 64 has. of which is located inside Hacienda Luisita.
Its proponent, the Base Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) said the project
is a key component of the Central Luzon development plan, which includes the
development of two former U.S. military installations, Clark Air Base and Subic
Naval Base, into a major international airport and international port,
respectively.
Galang said the SCTEP is part of the Cojuangco-Aquino family’s design to convert
the entire hacienda into a commercial area. The planned conversion, Galang said,
will drive the people away from their homes and their sole means of livelihood,
and deprive them of their claim on the land.
He said the project now fully explains why hundreds of troops from the
Northern Luzon Command are deployed in the hacienda.
“Aside from trying to weaken the people’s resolve to continue the strike, the
military now serves as the advance party to clear the area in preparation for
the (SCTEP),” Galang said.
Right to till
All cultivable land in the hacienda has become idle since the strike started. To
see them through the difficult rainy season, union members plan to cultivate
portions of the hacienda to produce vegetables and other food crops.
“We will exercise our right to till and make the idle land productive. While we
await the decision of the cases we have filed against management on the
transactions regarding the land, including the implementation of CARP, we need
to come up with something to ease the difficulties we are facing,” Galang
explained.
He said that the union will make sure that the plan will be done in a collective
and organized manner and that those who will participate are aware of their
rights and responsibilities, he said.
He added that both unions are always ready to face management again on the
negotiating table to amicably resolve the strike, Galang said. Bulatlat