ANGELES CITY- Farmers from the Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid ng Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) trooped recently to the Department of Justice and the Supreme Court to demand the delayed formation of a special panel on their cases.
But they were without their chairperson Florida Sibayan who was arrested earlier and detained at the Tarlac City jail allegedly on allegedly fabricated charges.
Joseph Canlas, head of the Alyansang Magbubukid ng Gitnang Luson (AMGL) said Sibayan and another farmer Julius Loveland were jailed on “trumped up” charges of threat filed by the Cojuangco-controlled Tarlac Development Corp (Tadeco), even as the Tarlac court said they failed to beat the deadline for the processing of bail.
Sibayan, through a delegation from Ambala, submitted to Justice Sec. Leila de Lima her second letter asking the secretary to fulfi ll her earlier promise to form a special panel to deal exclusively with Luisita land cases.
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) had already distributed lands at the hacienda through a raffle process, but hundreds of hectares within the estate are being claimed by Tadeco as being exempted.
These lands are being claimed by the farmers who have cultivated them. In her letter to De Lima, Sibayan said “police, armed men and other agents of the Cojuangco-Aquino family who are responsible for the destruction of our crops, homes and livelihood run free despite our formal complaints before several government agencies, including your good office.
We, farmers, however, who have not committed any wrong were quickly imprisoned.” Canlas said 12 more formal complaints were prepared by Ambala’s counsel Sentro para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (Sentra) regarding the alleged “bulldozing spree” of the farmers’ farms in areas being claimed by Tadeco, during the birthday of Pres. Aquino last Feb. 8.
“Twelve families lost an estimated P2.1 million during the Cojuangco thugs’ violent streak which bulldozed palay and vegetable crops ready for harvest this March, razed homes and destroyed personal belongings and farm implements,” one of the complaint affidavits said. They also reported theft of farm animals and harvested crops.
Christopher Garcia, spokesperson of Ambala, said “the reported losses are for a single incident alone.
Cojuangco- Aquino guards have been destroying farmers’ homes and livelihood in Barangay Balete (within the hacienda) since after Typhoon Santi hit Central Luzon in October.”
Meanwhile, Ambala also asked the Supreme Court to disqualify the auditing firms chosen by the Cojuangco- dominated Hacienda Luisita Inc. to audit the firm’s assets in relation to the earlier order of the SC to pay hacienda land reform beneficiaries some P1.3 billion as their share from the sale of hacienda lands in the past years. The group accused the firms of being biased in favor of the Cojuangcos.
