The Hacienda Luisita Massacre: How It Happened
The violence that marred the strike of plantation and milling workers of the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita on Nov. 16 was bound to happen and government authorities may have to account for it.
HACIENDA LUISITA & AGRARIAN REFORM
Hacienda Luisita is a classic example of feudalism still reigning in the country. Hacienda Luisita is a vast sugarcane plantation in Central Luzon controlled by the Cojuangco clan since the 1950s. The Cojuangcos obtained the land through a government loan with a provision that after ten years, they would give the land back to the tenants. They never did.
The struggle of farm workers gained national attention when policemen and soldiers opened fire at picketing workers on November 16, 2004, leaving seven dead.
Bulatlat covered the quest for justice for the victims of the massacre, the miserable conditions of farm workers, the loopholes in the agrarian reform program, and how the Cojuangco-Aquino clan evaded land distribution.
Aquino’s Top 10 Evil Schemes in Hacienda Luisita
Aquino’s Top 10 Evil Schemes in Hacienda Luisita
Behind the barrage of official information from Malacanang and concerned government agencies, what did Aquino and his clan do in Hacienda Luisita?
Hda. Luisita massacre: No justice after 10 years
Hda. Luisita massacre: No justice after 10 years
That tragic incident’s commemoration ought to focus not only on the long delay in obtaining justice for the massacre victims.
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform and the Hacienda Luisita Struggle
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform and the Hacienda Luisita Struggle
Farmer-beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita march from Tarlac to Manila to press for the immediate distribution of Hacienda Luisita land, as ordered by the Supreme Court. This video shows the hardships the farmworkers undergo to attain justice, despite the nearly insurmountable odds ranged against them by those who control the vast landholding—the family of President Benigno Aquino—who, according to the farmers, use legalities and the government's coercive forces to delay and eventually keep Hacienda Luisita under their control. But the farmworkers are not to be denied. Aside from pressing their right to land, they have already started tilling the land they say belongs to them by law and by moral right.
For Land and Wages: Half a Century of Peasant Struggle in Hacienda Luisita
For Land and Wages: Half a Century of Peasant Struggle in 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.
Tugon sa ‘Luisita,’ koleksyon ng tula ni Kerima Lorena Tariman
Tugon sa ‘Luisita,’ koleksyon ng tula ni Kerima Lorena Tariman
Kailangan rin talaga sigurong tapatan ito ng babala na mag-ingat sa industriya ng akademya at propesyunal na paglikha, na pilit inaangkin ang kabuluhan ng sining at kinukulong ito sa mga mekanismo ng karangalan na siya rin mismo ang nagtatakda. Kay baba naman ng pagtingin sa sining kung yan lang ang mundong gagalawan niya. Para saan at para kanino nga ba ang ating paglikha?
#Bulatlat20 | Covering Hacienda Luisita
#Bulatlat20 | Covering Hacienda Luisita
Bulatlat's coverage of Hacienda Luisita has since been the benchmark of other agrarian reform stories it has covered through the years, its lessons and victories often told to the next generation of journalists to serve as a reminder that peasant stories also deserve the spotlight.
Fr. William Tadena | ‘Please keep him in your hearts and minds’
Fr. William Tadena | ‘Please keep him in your hearts and minds’
Peasants, church workers and colleagues remember Aglipayan priest William Tadena, who was killed by a suspected state death squad 10 years ago.
10th year of Hacienda Luisita massacre | Fresh wounds remain
10th year of Hacienda Luisita massacre | Fresh wounds remain
SPECIAL REPORT: “Every time I see him (President Benigno Aquino III), my heart is overwhelmed with grief and anger.”
Emily Ladera-Facunla: Fighting for Luisita farmers
Emily Ladera-Facunla: Fighting for Luisita farmers
“What’s the use of my position if I could not defend the rights of my constituents? It’s better to die serving the people of the Hacienda Luisita than to die without meaning.” – Tarlac City Councilor Emily Ladera-Facunla
Luisita farmers: ‘Cojuangcos are heartless’
Luisita farmers: ‘Cojuangcos are heartless’
Hacienda Luisita farmers share how their huts were destroyed and how they were evicted from their farm lands last month by the security guards of the Tarlac Development Corporation, a firm owned by the family of President Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III.
‘They were like monsters’
‘They were like monsters’
At around 3 p.m., Dec. 21, policemen under the command of Tarlac City Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Bayani Razalan, Provincial Director Alex Sintin, chief of Great Star Security Agency, Mauro dela Cruz and Tarlac Development Corporation representative Villamor Lagunero arrested Hacienda Luisita farmers Vicente Sambo, Rod and his mother Eufemia Acosta, Ronald Sakay, husband and wife Jose and Elsa Baldiviano, and Manuel and Mamerto Mandigma. They are now detained at Camp Macabulos, headquarters of PNP-Tarlac. No charges have been filed against them as of Dec. 22.
Police nabs 11 Luisita farmworkers, supporters
Police nabs 11 Luisita farmworkers, supporters
Anakpawis Rep. Fernando Hicap, Sister Pat Fox of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines and former political prisoners Ericson Acosta and Kerima Tariman were among those arrested.
Under Aquino, no justice for victims of Hacienda Luisita massacre
Under Aquino, no justice for victims of Hacienda Luisita massacre
Officials and alumni of the Benguet State University (BSU), including his mentors, added their voice in the demands of various sectors and personalities to surface Jonas Joseph Burgos, an alumnus of their institution, who was believed to have been abducted by military agents.
Luisita workers reap seeds of decades-old struggle
Luisita workers reap seeds of decades-old struggle
“We occupied the land because it belongs to us. We used the idle land for the benefit of our children,”
Grains of Truth: Food Producers Suffer Hunger, Poverty
Grains of Truth: Food Producers Suffer Hunger, Poverty
“Kawitang palakol” and “gawat” are terms that refer to times when food is scarce, usually the weeks before harvest season when the farmers have spent all their money on fertilizers and pesticides and harvest time is still far away. The considerable increases in the...
Remembering a Desaparecido From Hacienda Luisita
Remembering a Desaparecido From Hacienda Luisita
MANILA -- Sydney Ramos went all the way to Manila from San Rafael, Tarlac to join other relatives of victims of enforced disappearances. Ronaldo Intal, the father of her three-year old son, was forcibly abducted on April 3, 2006 and has been missing since. Based on...
Catholic Bishops to Aquino: Fulfill Pro-Poor Platform, Ignore Luisita SDO
Catholic Bishops to Aquino: Fulfill Pro-Poor Platform, Ignore Luisita SDO
“The president cannot feign neutrality in this issue, for his silence and inaction will mean an implicit endorsement of the unjust compromise deal orchestrated by Cojuangco-owned HLI,” the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said in a statement.
Stock Distribution Option: Land Reform without Land
Stock Distribution Option: Land Reform without Land
That the plight of farm workers at Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac has already faded from the mainstream media limelight does not mean that there is now peace in the area. Last April 22, some 1,500 farm workers agreed to withdraw their shares in Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI), demand that stock distribution option (SDO) be revoked and opt for land distribution instead.
Confessions of a ‘Yellow Armyman’
Confessions of a ‘Yellow Armyman’
A former member of the Yellow Army and supervisor of Hacienda Luisita who admitted to being one of campaigners for the Stock Distribution Option in 1989 tell how he did so -- and why they are going against it today.
Abelardo Ladera: The Hero of Luisita
Abelardo Ladera: The Hero of Luisita
Before the coffin bearing the remains of Tarlac City Councilor Abel Ladera, the ninth Hacienda Luisita martyr, was buried, it was opened for his family and barriomates one last time. It took however almost an hour before the people could finish their goodbye: young ones took pictures of him with their cellular phones; the older ones patted the coffin, with whispers of “Salamat po, salamat po” (thank you, thank you) while a woman asked with a break in her voice, “Bakit ka nila pinatay, wala na kaming kasama.” (Why did they kill you, we no longer have someone to help us.)