Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) secretary general Renato Mendoza said in a statement the hacienda farmers “welcome the statement of present Agrarian Reform Sec. Rafael Mariano to rectify his predecessor’s actions and invalidate the so-called ‘tambiolo’ land reform.”
The Aquino administration enforced the Supreme Court’s decision in 2012 to distribute Hacienda Luisita lands under the land reform program by raffling off the lands via “tambiolo.” The farmers alleged that some of the beneficiaries were not qualified and were merely fronts of the Aquino-Cojuangco family which had “owned” the hacienda since 1957.
Mendoza said that despite Mariano’s move, the hacienda farmers “will continue to hold mass mobilizations to physically assert their claim on the lands and persevere in their collective tillage campaign or ‘bungkalan’.”
Anakpawis Partylist Rep. Ariel Casilao, who joined Luisita farmers in a “solidarity activity” Monday night in Barangay Mabilog in the hacienda, said that “landlessness, feudal exploitation, wage slavery, and other social and economic conditions that invariably lead to tragic episodes like the Hacienda Luisita massacre are still pervasive and are also the main causes of the continuing armed conflict in the country.”
“Hacienda Luisita is a classic, living case study to prove the need for genuine land reform and national industrialization, for thoroughgoing social and economic reforms which is in fact one of the main concerns of the ongoing peace talks between the government and the NDFP,” Casilao said.
Members of Ambala, Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA), Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and Anakpawis Partylist mark every Nov. 16 as National Day of Protest of Farm and Agricultural Workers. The groups led yesterday more than a thousand farm workers of Hacienda Luisita and their supporters from various sectoral groups from Central Luzon and Metro Manila in a mass action in front of the Cojuangco-owned Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT) to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the infamous Hacienda Luisita massacre.
Mendoza recalled that on November 16, 2004, a bloody dispersal was carried out by the military and police against striking workers of the United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU) and the Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU) , killing seven farm workers and injuring more than a hundred others.
Yesterday, the newly- formed Tanghalang Balen ning Luisita (Luisita People’s Theater) or Tablu, a group of young cultural activists from Hacienda Luisita and neighboring towns in Tarlac, led artists, cultural groups and activists in mounting a theatrical reenactment in front of the CAT sugar mill’s Gate 1, the actual site of the Hacienda Luisita massacre.
The reenactment paid tribute to seven farmers killed during the incident, namely, Jessie Valdez, Adriano Caballero Jr, Jaime Fastidio, Jesus Laza, Juancho Sanchez, Jhaivie Basilio and Jhune David.
“Twelve years have passed and the families of the victims continue to mourn and are still very much indignant as justice remains elusive. The perpetrators are not only left unpunished but are in fact being promoted to higher ranks,” UMA secretary general Danilo Ramos said, referring to, among others, current AFP Chief of Staff General Ricardo Visaya who was one of the field commanders during the massacre.
Mendoza said former Pres. Aquino’s family is “answerable not only for the Hacienda Luisita massacre, but also for the rights abuses against Luisita farm workers and the bogus land distribution in Hacienda Luisita during the term of the last Cojuangco-Aquino president.”
