“National minorities – 24 lumad from the Manobo tribe and some Calagan Moros were also exploited to work for a measly P9.46 a day – the same paltry sum that the Cojuangco-Aquinos gave their ‘stockholders’ 12 years ago.”
The sakadas worked from 4 a.m. until 5 p.m. for a pay way below the minimum wage of P334 per day in Tarlac. They received P9 to P128 per day due to numerous deductions.
After two years, it was only in July when Flores and other farmers were allowed to again till their farm lots, a part of the long-running struggle of farm workers in Hacienda Luisita.
Tension and terror arise anew in the Tarlac hacienda.
“The struggle in Hacienda Luisita is the struggle of the Filipino people.”
“Let us show the injustice that they did to us. And let us show that we are unbowed and still fighting.”
Agrarian Reform Sec. Rafael Mariano ordered the distribution of the lands being controlled by the Cojuangco family through Tadeco.
“We are elated by Ka Paeng’s words. He said no one would be harassing us anymore. We could now go back to our farms.” –Florida Sibayan, chairperson of Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala)
“The Cojuangco-Aquinos are far worse than drug lords, they are a feudal lord family, they victimize, not individuals, but generations of farmers, and their crime is the mother of all social cancers and injustice in the country, tyrannical monopoly control over vast tracks of land.
For Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA), Visaya deserves to be prosecuted, not promoted.
“Two Cojuangco-Aquinos have won the presidency with the promise to distribute Hacienda Luisita to us farmworkers. But look at what’s happening to us here now,” Sibayan said.