LABOR WATCH

The Untold Story of Hacienda Luisita Workers

Holding a multi-colored bayong (plastic market bag), Mang Pering, a retired sugar farm worker, looked half-scared and half-exited. Inside his bayong was a panti (fish net made of nylon) and some dry clothes. He is on his way to the nearby river where he hopes to get some fish so his family would have something to eat for the day.  But before he left, he said he only had one wish: “Sana hindi ako mahuli ng gwardya” (I hope the guard won’t catch me). 

By dabet castañeda 
Bulatlat.com  

In 1988 when shares of stocks were distributed by the HLI to its workers, Mang Pering was one of the beneficiaries.  Until today, he keeps in his closet about 20 stock certificates.  But Mang Pering says that of late, he has not benefited from the stock certificates.  “Kahit kailan hindi ko naman naramdaman na isa ako sa may-ari ng hacienda” (I’ve never felt being a stockholder of the hacienda), he said.

In 1990, Mang Pering was asked to cut some trees in the backyard of the Cojuangcos.  Even without being paid, he obliged as he said it was his way of returning the favor to the Cojuangcos as one of their workers for more than three decades. 

While doing this two years later, Mang Pering accidentally slipped and fell to the ground hitting his left shoulder.  He suffered a fractured bone in his shoulder and underwent surgery at the hacienda’s St. Martin de Porres Hospital which was also owned and operated by the Cojuangcos.

As the accident happened while doing a chore for the Cojuangcos, Mang Pering’s family thought that his hospitalization would be shouldered by the Cojuangcos.  They were wrong.  Mang Pering had to pay for his own hospitalization and medicines. He paid this through deductions from his weekly wage.

In 1998, Mang Pering received PhP15,000 as retirement pay.  This amount, however, was not enough to pay his accumulated hospitalization bills. 

It took several more years for Mang Pering’s daughter, Flor Sibayan, to be able to pay his debts through deductions from her salary as a sugar farm worker.

While the government allows a minimum wage of Php230 a day for agricultural workers, the sugar farm workers in HLI receive a gross amount of only PhP194.50. “Pero kung ibabawas ang mga utang namin, ang natitra na lang ay Php9.50” (Minus the money we pay for our loans, what’s left is only PhP9.50), she says. 

Sugar farm workers in Hacienda Luisita get a monthly supply of 10 kilos of sugar which they pay for PhP239.  “We should pay this amount within a month, if not, we won’t be able to get our supply for the next month,” Flor also says. 

They also have a daily educational allowance of PhP9.50 per child and a school bus allowance of PhP32 a month. However, the actual weekly transportation expenses for a child is already PhP62.

“The Cojuangcos may claim that they give us allowances but based on the high cost of living, these are not enough,” Celia Gutierrez, a sugar farm worker and a mother of one, said.  “Madalas sabihin ng mga Cojuangco na libre ang bigas, ang asukal… pero walang libre dito.  Lahat binabayaran namin” (The Cojuangcos always say they give free rice and sugar. But there’s nothing free here, everything is bought), she said.

In earlier days, Aling Celia said basic necessities such as water and electricity were supplied without charge until 1991 when they began paying for these. As most households have no money to spare for private water connections, they get their water supply from public pumps.

To earn extra income for her family, Aling Celia says she sells fish balls and sago (pearl coolers) during school days.  She says some mothers like her get extra income by doing the laundry or working as “special offer” ladies selling soap and toothpaste.  . 

Less working days, lower shares of stocks

Having only PhP194.50 gross pay for a day is made worse by having only two working days a week.  If a sugar farm worker gets to take home PhP9.50 a day as net pay, he or she would only have PhP19 a week.  “It’s not even enough to buy a kilo of rice,” said Aling Celia.

Diminishing man-days, or the number of workdays available for every sugar worker, are significantly affected by land-use conversion and mechanization in the hacienda.  Since 1988-1989, guaranteed man-days have drastically dropped because of less manual work available.

As stockholders, sugar farm workers supposedly own 33.2 percent of the outstanding capital stock of the HLI.  A total of PhP118 million should be distributed to the farm workers within 30 years.  But as the hacienda has 5,339 work force, each sugar farm worker gets only Php800 to Php1,000 per year. 

But since their share as stockholders depend on the number of man-days they accumulate per year, each sugar farm worker only accumulates a total of 80 guaranteed man-days a year which is equivalent to only PhP200 a year. 

Land conversion and mechanization of production  

When the hacienda was acquired by the Cojuangcos in 1958, its total land area was 7,200 has.  It has 

Boyet Galang, chair of the sugar farm workers group Ambala (Alliance of Farm Workers in Hacienda Luisita), said that the management has often told them that the land conversion projects will benefit the sugar farm workers and their families. “The HLI management promised us that the work force needed in the industries that will be put up in the business park will come from our families but at present, only 25 percent of the work come from us,” he said. 

He added that the management would usually turn down applications coming from children of identified peasant organizers in the hacienda.  “They are afraid that our children will also join the industry unions and would join strikes,” he said.

The HLI management has also acquired several high-tech machines for farming, water spraying, for the use of fertilizer and harvesting sugar.

While it is true that the mechanization of the hacienda makes the work faster and easier, these machines have practically replaced the sugar farm workers in the work field.  For instance, during planting season, 50 sugar farm workers could work on around five hectares a day while the mechanical planter could finish 12 hectares a day with only 10 sugar farm workers and one machine operator.

Manpower Reduction Program

Thus to fast track the retirement of its work force, the HLI management has used the voluntary/optional retirement scheme. Based on a retirement form a worker is asked to sign, the HLI’s Manpower Reduction Program mentions that the company “has been constrained to undertake [the measure] because of continuing adverse business conditions.” Galang accuses the company of resorting to manipulative measures to retrench its workforce. 

With the available man-days diminishing and the force retirement program underway, about 5,399 sugar farm workers are about to lose their jobs.  This number would add up to the large number of jobless Filipinos who, in one way or another, try to find the meanest of jobs available.

Mang Pering is doing just that.  He finds his way to the river where he hopes to find some fish and shell for his family’s food. But even this simple means to survive is prohibited.  “Noon pwede naman kaming mangisda sa ilog pero ngayon pinagbawal na nila.  Hindi ko alam kung bakit” (Before we could fish in the river but this has been banned. I don’t known why), he said. 

He is not about to give up, though.  With his bayong and panti (nylon fishnet), Mang Pering does not mind being caught by the hacienda guards. He sneaks through the thick grassland on his way to the river. “Ito na lang ang magagawa ko para makakain kami ng aking pamilya.  Bahala na kung mahuli ako” (This is the only way by which my family can eat. It’s all up to God if I get caught), he said. Bulatlat.com

Photos by Dabet Castañeda

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