When will justice be served for the victims of the violent dispersal of the Hacienda Luisita picket line? Until now, the government agencies that investigated the incident have not yet identified those responsible for the wanton violation of human rights.

BY DABET CASTAÑEDA
Bulatlat.com

Sixty-four year old Federico Laza’s voice still breaks and his eyes become watery at the memory of his son, Jesus. A sugarcane worker at the hacienda, 34-year old Jesus was one of the seven persons killed in the picket line violence. That the massacre remains unresolved to this day comes as no surprise, though, to the older Laza.

“Kapag gobyerno nakapatay, talagang malayo ang hustisya para sa mga dukhang katulad namin (If the government kills someone, justice is far from reach for poor people like us),” he said in an interview at the picket line where he has stayed and survived for more than a year now.

According to the preliminary report of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development (CLEHRD), “there is a prevailing perception that the Philippine National Police (PNP) is not really serious in identifying the culprits and in getting into the bottom of the issue (of the Hacienda Luisita Massacre).”

The investigation which saw four public hearings was conducted by the committee chaired by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada. He delivered a privilege speech on Nov. 17, 2004, a day after seven strikers were felled by bullets and others injured in what could be the most violent picket line dispersal in history.

JUST: Hacienda Luisita workers commemorate the first anniversary of their strike by asserting its legitimacy – on the walls of the Central Azucarrera de Tarlac (Bulatlat file photo)

In his speech, the senator condemned the “brutal and brazen display of ruthless violence by the PNP and the military” and called on, among others, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), PNP and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), to conduct an inquiry. Representatives of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT), CAT Labor Union (CATLU), United Luisita Workers’ Union (ULWU), and human rights and health organizations attended the Senate investigation.

The perpetrators

Police and DoLE officials testified during the inquiries that the primary objective of the police presence was to open CAT’s Gate 1 which gives primary access to the cane trucks in going to the sugar mill.

DoLE Sec. Patricia Sto. Tomas said, “the deputization of police personnel was to maintain peace and order and ensure passage into the gates of Hacienda Luisita.”

Sto. Tomas issued an Assumption of Jurisdiction (AJ) order last Nov. 10, 2004 and ordered the mill workers to return to work while ordering the CAT management to give a P15 ($0.28, based on an exchange rate of P54.42 per US dollar) daily wage increase and P12,500 ($229.69) signing bonus. The workers originally demanded a P150 ($2.76) daily wage increase and P30,000 ($551.27) signing bonus which went down to P32 ($0.59) and P15,000 ($275.63), respectively. By then, however, the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiation has reached a deadlock.

Police tried to disperse the strikers last Nov. 15, 2004 but failed. In the Senate inquiry, Police Chief Superintendent Quirino dela Torre explained that on Nov. 16, he “sought help from the Nolcom (Northern Luzon Command) because of its proximity to the sugar estate.” He also said the strikers’ ranks already swelled to 5,000.

Since then, Sto. Tomas has been under fire for allegedly abusing her authority.

Enrile inquired if there was a direct Presidential authorization to send military troops. Pimentel, on the other hand, insisted that under Article 7, Section 16 of the 1987 Constitution, it is only the President who can deploy the military to quell lawless violence. The legislator blamed Sto. Tomas for the violence that occurred in the picket line. He urged her to resign “out of delicadeza” since she acted beyond her authority.

In the inquiry, union officials have also implicated the Cojuangco family in the massacre.

Sto. Tomas has unwittingly implicated the powerful family with her own disclosure that she decided to send military troops after she received a call from Rep. Noynoy Aquino (Tarlac, second ditrict) informing her that “tension was mounting in Hacienda Luisita since 50 busloads of sympathizers from neighboring provinces had arrived to beef up the picket line.” The House representative is the son of former Pres. Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino of the powerful Cojuangco clan in Tarlac who owns both the CAT and the Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI) sugar plantation.

Not keen on resolution

The report by CLEHRD Legislative Secretary Gemma Genoveva Tanpiengco dated Dec. 1, 2004, stated that after the dispersal, 110 were illegally detained, 114 were injured and hospitalized, 32 were hit by bullets, 39 sacadas (seasonal sugar workers) remained missing after their arrest and 78 were victims of the looting by the police and military personnel.

However, in the report dated Feb. 3 this year, Enrile and Estrada have said that the PNP is not keen in resolving the issue at hand.

In particular, Enrile probed on the police’s non-recovery of the material evidence in the area that was under its complete control. PNP Deputy General Reynaldo Velasco earlier testified in the same public hearing that they were not able to recover the slugs, shells, and cartridges of the weapons that would point to the ones who killed the strikers.

Velasco added that they were unable to recover the slugs that would match the firearms that were subjected to ballistic tests.

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