The case of retrenched workers allegedly demonstrates the worsening state of farmer workers at the 6,453-hectare Hacienda Luisita, formerly owned by the family of Pres. Aquino, despite “land reform” implemented in the estate.
The Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) said in a statement yesterday that “massive retrenchment and contractualization in the mill, coupled with landgrabbing and the wholesale swindle of supposed agrarian reform beneficiaries are all tantamount to the slow death of farmers and laborers in Hacienda Luisita.”
He said that while CAT was reportedly sold last year to businessman Martin Lorenzo, it continues to be managed by Fernando Cojuangco, a first cousin of the President.
The shares of other Aquino- Cojuangco firms such as the Luisita Realty Corp. (LRC) and Luisita Industrial Park Co. (LIPCO) were also allegedly bought by CAT under Lorenzo, through the CAT Resource & Asset Holdings, Inc. or CRAHI.
UMA Acting Chair John Milton Lozande noted that while the Lorenzos and the Cojuangcos claimed to have cut costs on the perks of CAT management, “they are still raking in profits primarily through the blood and sweat of workers and peasants, who are now doubly exploited through contractualization and the rampant aryendo or leaseback scheme.”
“In May this year, almost 700 workers of the CAT were retrenched and forced to sign supposedly voluntary retirement papers. Those to be rehired this milling season starting November will now work as contractuals,” Lozande noted.
He also said that “because of fake land distribution implemented in 2013, supposed beneficiaries of land reform in the hacienda are now back to being cane cutters employed in the old ‘kapatas’ or middlemen and ‘pakyaw or piecerate system.”
Lozande noted that “Aquino cronies such as (former Land Transportation Office chief) Virginia Torres also facilitate the reconcentration of supposed land reform areas back to the control of CAT.”
Last month, Anakpawis Partylist Rep. Fernando Hicap publicly decried Torres’ hand in the alleged coercion and swindling of Luisita farmworker- beneficiaries through the illicit aryendo or leaseback scheme.
Lozande also cited reports that the Lorenzos now plan to sell 505 hectares of land assets under CAT and LRC as “a ploy for the Cojuangco-Aquinos to evade payment of its standing debt to farmworkers.”
He noted that when the Supreme Court ordered land distribution in Hacienda Luisita in 2012, the high court also ordered the audit of the P1.33 billion share of the farmworkers in the previous sale by the Cojuangcos of 580 hectares of hacienda lands to the Rizal Commercial and Banking Corp. (RCBC) and Centennary Holdings, as well as lands to accommodate the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) through the hacienda.
“Disposing of the CAT and LRC’s land assets will muddle the audit, as we believe that these are still part of the Cojuangco assets where farmers have a legitimate share. Morally and historically, the Cojuangco- Aquinos do not deserve a single centavo, they should no longer own even a single inch of land in Luisita,” said Lozande.
