This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 34, October 2-8, 2005
Sweet but Partial
Victory
“This victory will not have
been possible without the sacrifice of the martyrs of Hacienda Luisita. However,
justice for the people of the hacienda will only be complete if the perpetrators
of the murders of the seven workers and four of their supporters will be brought
to justice.”
By Abner Bolos For the plantation and
sugar mill workers of Hacienda Luisita, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)
decision to revoke the Stock Distribution Option (SDO) “is sweet victory.” They
say they have been vindicated on their claim that the negative effects of the
scheme on their work situation is the root of the strike and the infamous
Hacienda Luisita massacre of November 2004. Rene Galang, United Luisita
Workers Union (ULWU) president, said “It validates what we have been saying all
along: that aside from bringing unprecedented poverty and oppression on the
hacienda people, the SDO enabled the Cojuangco-Aquino family to evade land
distribution and profit immensely through unjust and illegal land use
conversion.” On the night of Sept. 30,
hundreds of striking workers converged at the picket line in Gate 1 of the sugar
mill in Tarlac City in jubilation and watched TV broadcasts where DAR Secretary
Nasser Pangandaman announced his approval of the revocation and his
recommendation that land distribution should immediately take place. Rene Tua, adviser of the
Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU), likened the DAR decision to
clipping the wings of the Cojuangco-Aquino family who have lorded it over the
hacienda for more than 50 years. “Aside from being very
happy with the decision, the people of hacienda can now stand proud that they
have won a battle with the clan,” Tua told Bulatlat. “We await the day
when we can stand face-to-face with the Cojuangcos and tell them in their face
that we were right all along and they will stand trial for their crimes. “Para
silang agilang naputulan ng bagwis”
(They are like an eagle whose wings was clipped), he said. With the decision, the
unions are more confident that the 10-month old strike, the most bloody and
controversial in the country's history, will be resolved in their favor. Union
leaders say they will conduct meetings in the 10 villages that comprise the
hacienda to explain the DAR decision and its implications in the labor dispute. But union leaders are also
cautious. They say that the decision is only a partial victory and land
distribution is still far down the road. “We expect the clan to
appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. What must be done now is for the
Presidential Agrarian Reform Council to finally revoke the SDO and issue a
decision that land distribution is to be implemented,” Galang said. Galang said that they
expect the Cojuangco-Aquino family to once again argue that the issue is already
a corporate matter and has ceased to be an agrarian problem. “The piles of documents
[the clan] possess cannot, by any stretch of imagination prove that Hacienda
Luisita has ceased to be an agrarian issue. The documents only show to what
extent they will go to steal the land from its rightful owners and amass wealth
from its unjust use,” Galang said. The unions demand that with
the decision, the clan must desist from engaging in any transaction involving
the land such as converting, mortgaging or selling the land. Moreover, the
unions demand that the land area coverage be reverted back to the original 6,543
has. The unions assert that the
clan must be held accountable and be compelled to compensate or give back to the
farm workers all illegally obtained money from the conversion and sale of the
land. Records obtained by the
unions reveal that a big chunk of the hacienda has been mortgaged by members of
the Cojuangco-Aquino family to the Prudential Bank and other banks for about
P550 million since 1991 without the knowledge of the farm workers. The
corporation has also been paid some P1.2 billion from the sale of a 500-ha. land
which was converted to non-agricultural use in 1996. The corporation has also
been paid P90 million in right-of-way payments by the Base Conversion
Development Authority for the use of some 66 hectares inside the hacienda for
the construction of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway Project. The striking
workers have blocked the construction of the expressway inside the hacienda and
have demanded that it be held in abeyance until the strike and land-related
issues have been resolved. Finally, the union leaders
say they will continue to seek justice for 11 people who were killed for
supporting the strike. “This victory will not have
been possible without the sacrifice of the martyrs of Hacienda Luisita. Justice
for the people of the hacienda will only be complete if the perpetrators of the
murders of the seven workers and four of their supporters will be brought to
justice,” Galang said. Bulatlat © 2005 Bulatlat
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