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By RONALYN V. OLEA
Ulwu chairman Lito Bais said the financial package from Hacienda Luisita management was meant to lure farm workers into the compromise-agreement bait. “They exploited the poverty of the farm workers and used money to deceive them,” he said. Bais also accused the Cojuangco-Aquinos of "hoodwinking" farm workers of hundreds of millions from earlier land deals.
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Kicked out of farmers' groups and the workers’ union in Hacienda Luisita, the two key signatories in the compromise agreement supposedly representing the farmer beneficiaries have a history of betrayal against the farm workers and collaboration with the Cojuangco-Aquinos.
In this webcast, Lito Bais, president of the United Luisita Workers Union, Felix Nakpil and Federico Laza of Ambala, and Atty. Jobert Pahilga, lawyer for the farm workers, talk about the compromise agreement wangled by Hacienda Luisita management. They enumerate the alleged deception by the Cojuangco-Aquinos. 
Watch the webcast
Luisita Farmers Endure Harassment
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Jobert Pahilga, lawyer of the farm workers’ group Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid sa Hacienda Luisita (Ambala), enumerates some of the provisions of the compromise agreement that are inimical to the interest of the farm workers.
By MARYA SALAMAT
Weeks before the management of Hacienda Luisita announced the signing of the controversial “compromise agreement” with farm workers, the villages in and around the sugar plantation owned by President Benigno S. Aquino III and his family were subjected to militarization, the kind that sowed fear among the residents, particularly those opposed to the stock distribution option. Video Sidebar: Military Tries to Intimidate Luisita Farmers
Jobert Ilarde Pahilga, the lawyer of Hacienda Luisita farmers challenging the stock distribution option (SDO) being implemented in the plantation owned by the family of President Benigno S. Aquino III, explains in this "video primer" the SDO, why the Cojuangco-Aquino family was hell-bent on it, why the lives of the farmers did not improve in spite of it, and why these farmers and peasants are opposed to it. Watch the video
By RONALYN V. OLEA
“We will definitely question in all forums available to us the standing of these individuals with whom HLI management negotiated and hold them accountable for their acts,” said Jobert Ilarde Pahilga, a lawyer for the farm workers.
Related Items
Sidebar: A History of Deception in Hacienda Luisita | Sidebar: President Aquino Can Be Held Equally Liable for ‘Grand Deception’ vs. Luisita Farmers | Previous story: ‘Breakthrough Deal’ Is a Lie Meant to Sway Supreme Court Decision on Hacienda Luisita, Say Farmers | Previous story: How Hacienda Luisita Stock Scheme Led to Farmers’ Misery | Read the compromise agreement | Full coverage: Hacienda Luisita
President Benigno S. Aquino III can be held equally liable for what progressive groups have described as a “sham” deal involving his family’s Hacienda Luisita.
By MARYA SALAMAT
The dialogue brokered by government did not address the root causes of the unrest raised by the pilots who resigned. Instead, PAL will continue to implement its massive spin-off and contractualization schemes – approved by the Arroyo regime, not yet rescinded by the Aquino government -- that will affect thousands of PAL’s cabin and ground employees.
By DABET CASTAÑEDA
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. The second part, Poorly Paid Workers Lose Jobs — and Homes, Too, exposes the toll the conflict had on the peasants.
Click here for more Bulatlat stories and multimedia content on Hacienda Luisita.
The Versolas continue to support the strike, visiting the picket line to watch documentaries on the massacre, help in the kitchen chores or just exchange views with anyone.
By RONALYN V. OLEA
“We never had any dialogue [with HLI management],” said Lito Bais, a leader of the Luisita union, noting that the Inquirer report on the deal came two weeks before the scheduled oral arguments before the Supreme Court on Aug. 18. Bais said the supposed agreement is meant to send a message to the members of the high court. “They want to influence the outcome of the SC decision.”
ACT Teachers Party-List on Wednesday filed House Bill 2142, "The Public School Teachers' Salary Upgrading Act," mandating an increase in salary grade level of public school teachers from Salary Grade 11 to Salary Grade 15.
By MARYA SALAMAT
The mass resignation of PAL pilots, the notice of strike filed by the cabin crew union, the struggle of ground employees against mass termination and contractualization -- all of these are interrelated. “It all stems from Lucio Tan’s moves to increase his profits even more by intensifying the exploitation of all his employees in the aviation industry.”
Related story: As Though 11-Year CBA Suspension Not Enough, PAL Employees Face Layoffs, Contractualization
By RONALYN V. OLEA
“It is inhumane for the court to order a nursing mother to go back to prison with her newborn child. We could only imagine [Carina's] turmoil as none could be more horrid for a mother than the thought of her child being put in peril,” said Joms Salvador, deputy secretary-general of Gabriela.
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