This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VII, No. 1, Feb. 4-10, 2007
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 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. 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 © 2007 Bulatlat
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Gitnang Luson News Service
Posted by Bulatlat