“The mandate of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to distribute the 358-hectares of Hacienda Luisita would serve as an added weapon for the farmworkers against the Cojuangco family’s continuing scheme to evade land distribution,” said KMP chair Joseph Canlas.
Canlas said “the conscious concealing of the 358-hectare Tadeco land located in Barangays Balete and Cutcut inside Hacienda Luisita from the anti-farmer stock distribution option scheme in 1989 that only covered 4,915 hectares shows that the Cojuangcos have been deceiving their farmworkers and the Filipino people since 1989.”
He said the 358-hectare Tadeco lands were covered only by a notice of coverage issued by the DAR in December 2013 but was opposed by the Cojuangcos who claimed the lands are no longer suitable for agriculture.
“Ka Paeng’s (Mariano) order is a challenge to the Cojuangco family’s resistance to fundamental change,” Canlas said.
Canlas said “the Cojuangcos together with their private army, paid puppets led by barangay captains inside the hacienda, and local police forces will not stop from employing all forms of harassments, intimidation, and deception to deny farmers of their rights to the lands.”
The KMP recalled various cases of harassment and human rights abuses that have occurred in the 358-hectare Tadeco land since December 2013. These abuses included the bulldozing of farmers’ crops, the fi ling of fabricated cases and illegal arrest of farmers and their supporters, and illegal fencing activities, it added.
