Kin
of Luisita Martyrs Benefit from Union Struggle
They did
not die in vain. The families and co-workers of the Hacienda Luisita
martyrs said that in spite of the tragedy, they are slowly benefiting
from what their kin and comrades gave their lives for.
BY ABNER
BOLOS
Gitnang Luson News Service
Posted by Bulatlat
|
They did
not die in vain. The families and co-workers of the Hacienda Luisita
martyrs said that in spite of the tragedy, they are slowly benefiting
from what their kin and comrades gave their lives for.
Jonalyn Caballero, 19, wife of Adriano, one of the victims of the
November 16, 2004 Hacienda Luisita massacre, was five months pregnant
when her husband was killed. She is unemployed and now lives with her
in-laws in Barangay Balete, one of the 10 villages comprising the
hacienda. She has no means to support her child.
Maribel
Valdez, 29, was also pregnant when her husband, Jessie, was killed along
with six farmworkers on that day. She was left to fend for her four
children and had to
work as a house maid in her native province of Isabela.
|
LUISITA MASSACRE ORPHANS: Jesse
Valdez Jr. (extreme left) with sister Jocelyn and June David Jr. |
Maribel and Jonalyn, along with other families orphaned by the Luisita
strike are slowly recovering from the tragedy with help from the union
and the gains of the struggle.
Day-care center
The
United Luisita Workers’ Union [ULWU] last June 21 gave P100, 000
($2,052.96 at an exchange rate of $1=P48.71) as seed fund to the
families of the victims for a day-care center they intend to build at
the hacienda. The union also gave P10, 000 ($205.29) to each of the
victims’ families to start small livelihood projects.
The
amounts were small but for the recipients, they are small treasures
knowing that they are the fruits of what their kin died for.
ULWU
president Rene Galang said the money came from the proceeds of the sugar
harvest that the union was able to negotiate from management as part of
the agreement that ended the strike in December 2005.
He
said the day-care center will benefit the orphans of the Luisita martyrs
and the children of union members.
Legacy
He
said that a more lasting legacy of the Luisita martyrs is that the farm
workers have broken free from the control of the Cojuangco-Aquino family
over the 6,000-ha. sugar plantation, and they now cultivate sizable
tracts of land on their own, for their own needs in an initiative they
call “bungkalan.” (cultivation)
As a
result of the strike and the “bungkalan,” the union said that
some 2,000 has. of the land is now being tilled by the farm workers and
planted with food crops, 700 has. of which is planted with rice.
The
Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has placed the sugar estate which is
owned by the family of former president Corazon Aquino under land
distribution after the strike ended. But the transfer of land ownership
to the farm workers was temporarily blocked when the Supreme Court
issued a temporary restraining order last year.
The
sugar mill resumed operations after the strike ended, but the company
was unable to restart normal plantation operations because of lack of
capital, the resolve of the workers to demand for land distribution, the
DAR decision and the “bungkalan.”
13
martyrs
The
13-month long strike claimed the lives of 13 workers and supporters. The
workers blame all the killings on government troops and management
security forces. All the victims were shot and died over a period of 15
months.
The
union decried the government’s inability to bring the perpetrators to
justice. Only one suspect has been charged in court—a soldier identified
by witnesses as responsible for the October 25, 2006 murder of union
president Ricardo Ramos.
The
rest of the cases filed have been dismissed. In most of the cases,
government investigators failed to identify the suspects.
The
seven farm workers killed in the picket line massacre were Jesus Laza,
Jhaivie Basilio, Juancho Sanchez, Jessie Valdez, Jun David, Jaime
Pastidio and Adriano Caballero. From December 2004 to March 2006, seven
more leaders and supporters of the workers were gunned down in separate
incidents allegedly by military agents: Central Azucarera de Tarlac
Labor Union president Ricardo Ramos, ULWU director Tirso Cruz, peasant
leaders Marcelino Beltran and Ben Concepcion, Bayan Muna
secretary-general Florante Collantes, Tarlac City councilor Abelardo
Ladera and Iglesia Filipina Independiente [IFI] priest William Tadena.
IFI
Bishop Alberto Ramento, murdered inside his church on October 3, 2006,
was also an active supporter of the Luisita workers and is regarded as
the 14th Luisita martyr in the post-strike period.
Mutual aid
To
boost their efforts at recovery, the relatives of the victims and union
officials organized Hacienda Luisita-Martyr [HL-Martyr], a mutual aid
organization of the victims of strike-related violence at the hacienda.
Galang
said that eventually, the organization will evolve into a foundation
that will tap funding and other support for the families left by the
martyrs.
HL-Martyr will also be a venue for the relatives to pursue their search
for justice and to participate in union-sponsored activities struggling
for land distribution in the hacienda.
ULWU
is assisted by the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP-Central
Luzon)
and
the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL or Central Luzon
Peasant Alliance) in organizing the foundation. Gitnang Luson News
Service/posted by Bulatlat
BACK TO
TOP ■
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION ■
COMMENT
© 2007 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications
Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided
its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
