Marking yesterday the 30th anniversary of People Power, Anakpawis Partylist said the administrations of ex- Pres. Corazon Aquino and her son Pres. Benigno Aquino III “continued the Marcosian legacy of condemning farmers and workers to a life of poverty.”
“The two Cojuangco- Aquino presidents, whose terms covered almost 12 years, as well as the intervening regimes of three other presidents, have in fact continued irregthe Marcosian legacy of condemning majority of Filipinos, namely, the farmers and workers to live in unthinkable poverty and misery,” Anakpawis Rep. Fernando Hicap said in a statement.
Hicap said “the administration of the late President Cory Aquino authorized Mendiola Massacre on January 22, 1987 that resulted to the killing of 13 farmers.”
“There were about 30,000 farmers and protesters who marched towards Mendiola Bridge in Manila but were met by an armed-to-the teeth contingent of government forces who opened fire at the mob. The rally was led by Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) which was demanding genuine agrarian reform,” he recalled.
Despite the elder Aquino’s enactment in 1988 of Republic Act No. 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) on June 30, 2014, genuine land reform still fell short of expectations, he noted.
“With CARP’s expiration on June 30, 2014, the Aquino administration has left the agrarian reform agenda in limbo, with no existing laws for land acquisition and distribution,” he added.
Anakpawis also recalled that it was during the term of Mrs. Aquino that Republic Act No. 6715 or the Herrera Law was passed. The law introduced the “assumption of jurisdiction” power of the labor secretary, and its power to promote the hiring of contractuals and other non-regular workers.
“Assumption of jurisdiction is usually invoked by the labor secretary to break up the legitimate strikes launched by workers in the country such as it was used prior to the November 16, 2004 Hacienda Luisita Massacre violent dispersal,” Hicap said.
“Cory Aquino’s presidency betrayed the Filipino workers by breaking up the wage levels among regions and promotion of contractualization, which both landmark laws attacked the legitimate rights of workers for wages and form unions,” he added.
Hicap noted that on the other hand, Mrs. Aquino’s son, whose presidential term expires this June, has failed to fulfill campaign promise to fully implement land reform at Hacienda Luisita which used to be fully owned by his family until the Supreme Court, in an order in 2012, ordered it distributed to farm workers.
Hacienda Luisita farmers have continued to fight off land grabbing by Tarlac Dev’t Corp. (Tadeco) owned by the Cojuangco family, as well as their harassment and displacement, Hicap said.
“Aquino has also ignored the legitimate demand of Filipino workers for P125 wage hike nationwide. Instead, he implemented the Department Order 18-A, that aggravated contractualization in November 2011 and the two-tiered wage system in October 2012,” he also said.
Hicap said that the Marcos dictatorship had paved the way for the arbitrary arrest and detention of around 120,000 people; extra-judicial killings of 1,500 activists; and the enforced disappearance of 769 individuals.
“Under the regime of Corazon Aquino, 1,064 were victimized of extra- judicial killings, 816 of forced disappearances, 1.2 million of forced evacuation due to militarization, 20,523 of illegal arrests and detention, and 135 cases of massacres,” Anakpawis also said.
It also noted that under the present administration as of September 2015, a total of 294 had been victims of extra-judicial killings, 28 of enforced disappearances, 318 of frustrated killing, 3,237 of illegal arrests, 63,824 of forced evacuation, 161,552 of harassment, intimidation and threat, 29,257 of coercion of civilians to be guide to military operations, 182,389 of military occupation of civilian establishments.
“The Cojuangco- Aquinos, who are great pretenders of being icons of democracy are of the same caliber as Marcos in terms of ruling with state terrorism,” Hicap said.
