This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 49, January 22-28, 2006
Despite gov't decision
favoring land distribution
The strike
may have been lifted last December 8, 2005, but the struggle of the farm workers
of Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI) is far from over. Among the unresolved issues
are coverage of land distribution and number of agrarian reform beneficiaries.
BY ABNER
BOLOS
Bulatlat Farm workers in Hacienda
Luisita asked the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to put under land
distribution the entire 6,453 has. that originally comprised the plantation
before it was placed under the stock distribution plan (SDP). The United Luisita Workers’
Union (ULWU), Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA, or
the Alliance of Farm Workers in Hacienda Luisita) and the supervisory group,
which petitioned for the investigation of the SDP, also asked DAR to compel
Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI) to render an accounting of its business operations
and the proceeds of the sale of portions of the estate since the approval of the
SDP in 1989. These were among the nine
pleadings contained in the farm workers’ response to Hacienda Luisita
management’s appeal regarding the revocation of the SDP. The response was
submitted to the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) last January 16 and
was signed by four lawyers from the Public Interest Law Center (PILC) headed by
United Nations judge ad litem Romeo Capulong. Frivolous and dilatory Brushing aside management’s
appeal as “frivolous and dilatory,” the farm workers asked DAR secretary Nasser
Pangandaman to “take immediate appropriate steps to execute and implement” the
PARC decision that called for the compulsory acquisition of 4,915 has. covered
by the SDP for distribution to the farm workers. “The arguments they raised
have long been settled by the courts in favor of land reform beneficiaries.
Aside from our counter-arguments we also presented specific proposals, which
will bring to light what really happened in the decades that the Cojuangco
family controlled the hacienda,” Capulong told union officers and former
plantation supervisors in a meeting held on the day the union’s response was
submitted to the DAR. In its January 2 motion for
reconsideration, the HLI management argued that the PARC has no jurisdiction to
revoke the SDP because only “a proper action in court and not an administrative
body like the PARC” can nullify the 1989 agreement between the corporation and
the farm workers which served as the basis for the SDP. The HLI management also
argued that there was no due process in the revocation of the SDP and that the
PARC violated the right to property guaranteed by the Philippine constitution.
The union lawyers, however, cited a 2004 Supreme Court decision that states,
“All controversies on the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform
Program (CARP) fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agrarian Reform
(DAR), even though they raise questions that are also legal or constitutional in
nature.” The union lawyers also said
that the HLI management and its lawyers were “duly notified and had, in fact,
actively participated” when the DAR special task force started investigations on
the SDP in November 2004. Historic and legal right “We are asserting our
historic and legal right to the entire 6,435 has. that originally comprised the
hacienda. The records will prove that management arbitrarily excluded some 1,538
has. immediately before SDP took effect in 1989,” ULWU president Rene Galang
told Bulatlat in an interview. Galang explained that
before the Cojuangco family assumed control of the hacienda from the Compania
General de Tabacos de Filipinas (Tabacalera) in 1958, the farm workers had
petitioned the government to distribute the land. But the Cojuangco family
managed to secure loans from the government, which enabled them to purchase the
land from the Spanish owners on the condition that the land will be distributed
to the tillers after 10 years, Galang said. The Cojuangco family
reneged on the agreement and was ordered by the Manila Trial Court in 1985 to
distribute the land to the farm workers, Galang recalled. “The clan did not legally
own even a single square foot of hacienda land before the SDP took effect. But
when a member of the family, former president Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino became
president, it was all too easy for them to ignore our claim and manipulate the
implementation of the SDP. In the process, they arbitrarily reduced the CARP
coverage,” Galang said. The 120-hectare Luisita
Industrial Park, one of the hubs of Central Luzon’s growth triangle used to be a
sugar plantation and was not subjected to application for land use conversion
because it has been excluded in the CARP coverage of the hacienda, according to
Jojo Zuniga, one of the supervisors who petitioned against the SDP in 2003. Review transactions By virtue of the SDP
revocation, the union also wants a review of all transactions involving the land
after 1989 in order to see how the HLI and other corporations formed by the
Cojuangco family generated income from the estate. HLI is the corporate owner
of the sugar plantation where the farm workers supposedly own 33% shares of
stocks. It is a spin-off corporation of the Tarlac Development Corp. (TADECO),
the Cojuangco-owned corporation that took over the plantation and the sugar mill
in 1958. “We would like also to
validate through official records that the clan unjustly amassed wealth from the
land while we were driven deeper into destitution. We will apply legal remedies
to recover what is rightfully ours,” Galang said. Earlier, ULWU asked DAR to
declare void all land use conversion orders previously granted on areas forming
part of the original 6,453 has. property. The union also asked DAR to order HLI
not to sell or mortgage any portion of the land. In 1996, HLI sold a 500-hectare
lot for P1.2 billion ($22658610.27, based on an exchange rate of P52.96 per US
dollar). In its January 16 response
to management’s appeal, ULWU also asked DAR to order the Register of Deeds of
Tarlac Province and Tarlac
City to annotate the PARC Resolution on the
Registrars’ copies of the titles to the HLI properties and to desist from
registering all future transactions involving hacienda land. Against saboteurs ULWU and Alyansa ng
Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL or Alliance of Farmers in Central Luzon) have
also moved against “saboteurs” who allegedly seek to benefit from the expected
land distribution. Last January 18, ULWU
officers along with AMGL chair Joseph Canlas asked provincial agrarian reform
officer Alfredo Reyes not to recognize and grant assistance to members of Peace
Foundation, a non-government organization based in Manila. Canlas told Reyes that the
group which was “not in any way involved in the strike suddenly emerged and is
trying to grab credit and gains” from the SDP revocation. “Wala ang mga
mananabotaheng iyan noong panahon ng sakripisyo at kahirapan ng mga manggagawang
bukid sa pakikipaglaban para sa karapatan sa lupa. Ngayon ay gusto nilang
katawanin ang mga manggagawang bukid at pakinabangan ang kanilang pinaghirapan,”
(These saboteurs were not present when the farm workers endured sacrifices and
hardships in their struggle for their right to the land. Now, they want to
represent the farm workers and benefit from their sacrifices.) Canlas said. In response, Reyes said,
“all parties who intend to take part in the validation and land distribution
process will have to do so under the umbrella of ULWU.” AMGL, a regional chapter of
the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Peasant Movement of the Philippines), is
one of the principal supporters and advisers of ULWU along with party-list
organizations Bayan Muna (People First), AnakPawis (Toiling Masses) and Gabriela
Women’s Party. Elizabeth Magcalas,
municipal agrarian officer of Concepcion town, told union officers that the
Peace Foundation, represented by Noel Mallari, received some P49,000 ($925.23)
worth of seedlings as assistance to the land reform beneficiaries in the
hacienda. Reynaldo Bulanadi, ULWU
director for Barangay Pando, Concepcion said that during the dialogue, Mallari's
group refused to give the seedlings to the farm workers unless they join the
Peace Foundation. Other issues One of the contentious
issues in the CARP coverage is the number and identification of beneficiaries.
ULWU said that there were originally about 5,500 union members. But the company
master list totaled 6,296 in 1989. During the PARC hearing
held last December, management lawyer Vigor Mendoza claimed that the number of
farm workers in the company master list reached 11,955. ULWU argued that management
has arbitrarily included in the master list people who are not farm workers. The
additional names in the list are personal or confidential agents of the company. Reyes announced that DAR
validation teams will conduct field investigations in the barangays inside the
hacienda from January 16 to 30 and that the preliminary screening of
beneficiaries and the survey of the lots covered by the titles subject to CARP
will last from February 18 to April 18. He said that he expects the validation
and documentation of Luisita beneficiaries will be accomplished before the end
of June. Union officials also
decried alleged continuing human rights violations in the hacienda. ULWU director Joey Romero
of Barangay (Village) Mapalacsiao said that five union officers received death
threats recently. He also told Bulatlat that on the night of December 24,
a van full of armed men parked near his home and waited for him. He said that
soldiers continue to conduct surveillance operations and harass union leaders. On January 13, the wife of
Balete barangay chair Rodel Galang was slapped by goons who were in the company
of soldiers. A week before, a barangay tanod of Balete was mauled by soldiers
resulting in severe head wounds that required 12 stitches. The victims have
filed complaints with the police. The union asked DAR “to
create the proper conditions necessary to effectively implement the PARC
Resolution by ordering the de-militarization and dismantling of the private army
of management” in the 10 barangays comprising the hacienda. Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
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Hacienda Luisita Workers Still Face Uphill Battle