In death and in life, the slain
councilor is surrounded by people who admire and love him
TARLAC CITY – Before the coffin
bearing the remains of Tarlac City Councilor Abel Ladera, the ninth
Hacienda Luisita martyr, was buried, it was opened for his family and
barriomates one last time. It took however almost an hour before the
people could finish their goodbye: young ones took pictures of him with
their cellular phones; the older ones patted the coffin, with whispers of
“Salamat po, salamat po” (thank you, thank you) while a woman asked
with a break in her voice, “Bakit ka nila pinatay, wala na kaming
kasama.” (Why did they kill you, we no longer have someone to help
us.)
The day
before he was shot, Tarlac City Councilor Abelardo R. Ladera was at the
provincial office of the Department of Land Reform (DLR) in Tarlac City to
obtain documents on the controversial stock distribution option (SDO)
implemented by the Cojuangco-Aquino family in Hacienda Luisita.
Provincial
agrarian reform officer Alfredo Reyes was effusive in saying he has long
wanted to meet the popular city councilor. On the table, he handed to
Ladera a sheaf of documents containing the SDO compliance report of
Hacienda Luisita, Inc. and the corporation’s response to two petitions
questioning the SDO submitted by the farm worker beneficiaries and,
strangely, from a group of plantation supervisors.
Through the
brief but official meeting, Ladera again helped in clearing the way for
the resolution of the four-month old bitter labor dispute at the hacienda.
The United Luisita Workers’ Union (ULWU), the 5,000-strong plantation
workers’ union, has been given the run around by the DLR national and
regional offices for the past two years and has failed to obtain copies of
the documents that they consider vital in clarifying the issues that led
to the strike.
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Ladera's only son could not believe his
father was dead and would not allow the coffin to be closed
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At noon of
the next day, March 3, while on his way home, a single sniper’s bullet
pierced his heart, killing him instantly. News of his death reverberated
throughout the hacienda, and later, the nation. For the angry and grieving
people of Hacienda Luisita, they have lost a hero.
At the time
of his death, the negotiations to end the strike were nearing another
impasse. Ladera, who played a key role in brokering the on-going direct
talks between management and the striking workers, knew that the SDO had a
lot to do with why management refuses to reinstate union officers and
members—an issue which has proven to be the biggest stumbling block in the
negotiations.
“A review on
how SDO was implemented in Hacienda Luisita will reveal illegal acts
committed by management to deprive us of our jobs and our claim on the
land. The Cojuangco-Aquino family has hidden from us and the public a lot
of things (about the SDO),” ULWU president Rene Galang told Bulatlat
in an interview. The documents Ladera obtained from DLR, said Galang,
will somehow expose such acts.
“My brother
has no personal enemies. Only the Cojuangco-Aquino family and the generals
of the Northern Luzon Command have the motive and the means to kill my
brother,” Emily Ladera-Facunla, Ladera’s sister, told Bulatlat. She
said her brother had supported the cause of the workers even before the
strike.
Hacienda
Luisita kid
The life and
death of Ladera – Kagawad Abel to friends - can best be understood in the
context of the struggle of the people of Hacienda Luisita. He grew up in a
worker family’s home in Barangay Balite, one of the 10 barangays
(villages) that comprise the 6,000 ha. sugar plantation owned by the
family of former President Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino.
Life in the
hacienda has always been harsh. Income of workers from the sugar
plantation and mill is barely enough for daily survival. Very few
children, especially from farm worker families, are able to reach or
finish college.
Ladera negotiating with police officers
during the Hacienda Luisita strike
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Ladera’s
mother Rosalina, 63, used to be a farm worker. His father Leonardo, 67,
who also worked at the sugar mill, had to work abroad for 21 years in the
Middle East to support the
education of his children.
As a young
lad, Ladera roamed the village streets and forayed into the thick sugar
cane growth, creeks and by-ways with his friends to catch fish and frogs,
gather wild vegetables and whatever they can bring home to eat.
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His mother
traces the late councilor’s deep concern for the workers to his religious
upbringing. In his teens, Ladera, the eldest in a brood of four, was a
leader of Catholic Youth Fellowship in their community. During Christmas
and Lenten seasons, Ladera, along with his brother and sisters would lead
and perform in plays during church activities.
“He usually
plays the role of Christ. His pockets are often full of biscuits and food
stuff to give to his friends,” Rosalina recalls. When rebuffed, Ladera
would answer that he is only doing what he has been taught: give what he
has to the less fortunate, his mother recounts.
His entry
into politics was not by design. In, 1993, at the height of the
implementation of SDO, the company announced that the entire village would
be relocated to give way to a road project. Ladera, then a village council
member, led in opposing the demolition of the homes in his barangay. He
helped man the barricades for several months.
At one point,
he climbed the church roof and told the heavily-armed demolition crew that
they would have to shoot him first and destroy the church before they can
demolish their homes and the community.
The forcible
demolition was prevented. An agreement with the Cojuangcos was reached
wherein the people agreed to be relocated in a site only a few meters away
and with sufficient financial and material support for rebuilding their
homes and their community.
Entry in
politics
In 1994,
Kagawad Abel handily won as a barangay chairman, not of his own choice but
on the clamor of people.
In 2001, he
ran and placed fourth as a city councilor, the only neophyte barangay
chairman who won among scores of his peers who lost during that election.
In the 2004 local elections, he was re-elected getting the second highest
number of votes on an anti-Cojuangco campaign platform. By this time, even
his political opponents acknowledged that he can easily be the next city
mayor.
But electoral
politics is not what led to his death.
In an
interview held last February in his home in Barangay Balite, Ladera
explained that the land use design of the Cojuangco family for the
hacienda, and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Subic-Clark-Tarlac
Expressway (SCTE) run counter to the hacienda people’s claim on the land
and desire for a better life.
“We cannot
blame the people for asserting their rights. If the plans push through,
there will be no more land for the people to claim and they will lose
their homes and sole means of livelihood. As a resident of the hacienda
and their councilor I have no choice but to support and fight for the
people,” Ladera said.
As city
councilor and chair of the committee on human rights, labor and
employment, he filed and successfully passed several resolutions in
support of the hacienda workers.
“He is one of
the biggest reasons why the Cojuangco family is finding it difficult to
terminate the hacienda workers en masse, dismantle our unions and
eventually drive us from the land,” said Ricardo Ramos, president of the
Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU) and a friend and
kumpare of Ladera.
Supportive
of strike
Ladera was at
the picket line in Gates 1 and 2 of the sugar mill to render support to
the striking workers, their families and friends during the tension-filled
days and nights following the November 10 assumption of jurisdiction order
issued by Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas, Ramos told Bulatlat.
The order
paved the way for the tragic killing of at least seven protesters
allegedly by military and police personnel who were ordered to clear the
picket line.
Days before
the Nov. 16 massacre, Ramos recounts, the councilor wrote and faxed
letters to former congressman Jose Cojuangco Jr. and Rep. Benigno Aquino
III offering himself as a mediator to avert another violent dispersal at
the picket line.
A close ally
of Tarlac Gov. Jose Yap, he was present in several meetings at the
provincial capitol days before November 16, along with union officers,
management representatives and PNP and NOLCOM officers where he lobbied
strongly for a peaceful settlement of the strike.
“The
Cojuangco family knows that as long as we remain in the picket lines,
their plans cannot be implemented. They are causing the failure of the
negotiations because of their refusal to allow us to go back to work and
they continue to use violence against us.” Galang said.
But the
people of Hacienda Luisita are determined to fight on.
In the
evening of March 10, only a day after Ladera’s burial, about 100 soldiers
aboard two army trucks entered the plantation and scoured the villages
from barangay Sta. Catalina to Balite. They patrolled in the middle of the
night till dawn, peeked through windows of the people’s homes and asked
questions intended to create fear. The Northern Luzon Command has
confirmed the soldiers’ presence to media.
Leonarda
Halili, a farm worker from barangay Sta. Catalina, said she and other
leaders from the barangay confronted the soldiers in the morning and told
them they are not welcome and should leave the community.
Leaders at
the picket line declared an alert and started to mobilize people from the
barangays to reinforce the picket lines. Church leaders led by the
Promotion for Church People’s Response (PCPR) arrived in Gate 1 on March
12 to render support and question the military intrusion.
Joey Romero,
an ULWU director, said one of the best ways to give justice to the death
of Ladera is for the hacienda people to carry on the struggle.
“While we are
deeply saddened, we are also inspired by the example of Councilor Ladera.
We know that the nine martyrs [of Hacienda Luisita] were killed because
they supported and fought for our right to the land. Their sacrifice will
not be in vain,” Romero said. Bulatlat
Photos by Pokus Gitnang Luson News Service
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