ANGELES CITY – The Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) said yesterday that the military has admitted that Hacienda Luisita is covered by the government’s Oplan Bayanihan which they claimed, was an admission of militarization in the estate already awarded to tenants by the Supreme Court but is still being contested by Pres. Aquino’s family.
This, even as hacienda farmer leaders claimed that persons identified with the President’s family, which used to control the estate since 1947, have been “coercing” barangay chairpersons in the hacienda to sign documents supporting military presence in their midst.
In a statement, Ambala and its mother organization Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson (AMGL) cited Lt. Col. Ernesto C. Torres Jr., commander of the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Battalion, as admitting Hacienda Luisita is under Oplan Bayanihan, the counter-insurgency program of the Aquino government.
“First, this is a clear admission that Hacienda Luisita is militarized. We should not forget that the AFP’s commander-in-chief is Pres. Aquino, a member of the Cojuangco-Aquino clan.
The president’s family is the antagonist of the farmworkers’ struggle for their rights to land,” said Joseph Canlas, AMGL chairperson.
AMGL and Ambala have been demanding the pull out of the military from the hacienda even before the violent dispersal of the farmworkers’ strike on November 16, 2004 when seven farmers were killed.
Last Nov. 22, the Supreme Court ordered the distribution of the hacienda to its farmworkers, but the Hacienda Luisita Inc., the firm controlled by Pres. Aquino’s family filed petitions that continued to block the implementation of the verdict. The hacienda had been in the hands of the President’s family since 1947.
“The military should not intervene on the issue of Hacienda Luisita as it is clearly an agrarian issue,” Canlas said.
Canlas also said that “everybody should know that Oplan Bayanihan is a counter-insurgency program targeting those they brand as ‘insurgents,’ and their operation is clearly military in nature, whether they clean up streets or any civil-military operations.”
“Soldiers never left the hacienda. When we were massacred, they still had the guts to show their faces. They wreaked havoc here, harassed leaders and members of Ambala and United Luisita Workers’ Union,” said Felix Nacpil, Jr., Ambala chairperson.
Nacpil noted the “bloody record” arising from military presence in the hacienda including the killing of Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (Catlu) and Barangay Mapalacsiao Chairman Ric Ramos on October 25, 2005 when the military encamped at his barangay.
Ambala said that persons identified with the President’s family “are coercing barangay chairpersons to sign an affidavit supporting military deployment in their areas.” The barangay heads never consulted their constituents, the group added.
“The only exception was the chairman of Barangay Balete who is a known supporter of the Cojuangco-Aquino clan,” Ambala said.
