Happy residents of Balete, Tarlac stroll near a palay plantation. Photo by Joey Pavia
TARLAC CITY – “We jumped to express our joy and we even cried.”
Thus said residents of Barangay Balete, here last week as they learned about the decision of the Supreme Court ordering the distribution of the 4,915.75-hectare Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac to over 6,000 farmers of the sugar estate owned by President Aquino’s family.
Some of them said they had learned about the decision three days before it was announced in the news on Friday.
Gabriel Sanchez, a pastor who was born in Balete, said “we truly welcome the SC decision” but also wants justice for at least seven people who live in the same barangay killed since 2004 in connection with their struggle against the Aquino-Cojuangco family.
Sanchez said his son, Juancho, was 20 years old when killed in the picket line on November 16, 2004 during the so-called Hacienda Luista massacre.
At least 14 people, including two children, were killed while some 200 others were wounded when more than 1,000 policemen and soldiers stormed a blockade of at least 6,000 striking plantation workers and their families.
Sanchez challenged Aquino to be true to his lines – “kayo ang boss ko” – he had delivered during his recent State of the Nation Address (SONA).
“Kayo ang boss. Dapat niyang sundin ngayon ang Supreme Court dahil kami daw ang boss niya (You are my boss. Now he [Aquino] must follow the order of the SC because we are his boss),” said Sanchez who spoke with Punto at the picket line in Balete.
Sanchez disclosed that they had set-up the picket line in June of this year as police allegedly tried to harass them.
The Aquino-Cojuangco family was reportedly negotiating with the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) in connection with pieces of land in Balete. The Makati City-based bank is claiming lands through transaction with the Cojuangco-controlled Luisita Industrial Park Co. (LIPCO).
“RCBC has no legitimate claim of the lands as history has proven that the Cojuangcos did not legitimately own Hacienda Luisita. They should hold the Cojuangcos accountable as this landlord family consciously offered lands that under clear agrarian reform dispute,” said Joseph Canlas of the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL).
Canlas said the lands should be distributed to farmers “for free and no expenses whatsoever.”
“Ibalik (return) is the word we want to use because the farmers truly own the lands,” said Canlas in a phone interview.
Rufina Victoria of Balete said “we are happy with the decision and we will fight to death to get our lands back.”
“It’s like our other foot is in the ground and we have no choice but to fight back and continue the struggle,” said Victoria in the dialect.
She said the Balete residents celebrated on the streets when they learned about the decision of the SC last Tuesday at about 2:00 p.m. through their friends in Metro Manila.
Victoria agreed with the statements of Sanchez that justice should be served on their barangaymates killed in 2004, one of whom is Tarlac City Councilor Adel Ladera who was killed in 2005.
A former Barangay captain and councilor of Balete, Ladera supported the striking farmers at the Hacienda Luista.
“Ladera was a very kind and a good man. He was a big loss,” said Victoria.
She said they had been threatened and harassed since they stayed at the picket line in Balete.
“Now, with the Supreme Court decision, we are stronger,” she added
