A Look Back: Hacienda Luisita, the SDO, and the Farmers’ Struggle for Land

In 2004, Bulatlat.com published a two-part investigative report on Hacienda Luisita, its troubled history, and the struggle of the farmers and workers for land and justice. The first part, For Land and Wages: Half a Century of Peasant Struggle in Hacienda Luisita, talks about the lives of the farmers and the events that led to the strike and massacre that same year. The second part, Poorly Paid Workers Lose Jobs — and Homes, Too, exposes the toll the conflict had on the peasants.

Trivia: Ildefonso Pingol, the vice-president of the United Luisita Workers’ Union who this week signed the agreement with Hacienda Luisita management, claims to have been a member of the Cojuangco-Aquinos’ “yellow army” and, according to him, a bodyguard of Jose “Peping” Cojuangco each time President Aquino’s uncle visited the hacienda.

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