The demolition was part of the assertion of the farmworkers that they also had rights over lands retained by the family of former president Benigno Aquino amid the High Court’s order to distribute 6,453 hectares of hacienda lands to the farmworkers.
In a telephone interview, Joseph Canlas, chairman of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), said the farmers claimed the fenced lands in Barangay Balete in the hacienda “was illegally converted and sold by the Cojuangco- Aquinos’ Tarlac Development Corp. (Tadeco) to the Yuchengcos, days after the Hacienda Luisita massacre (on Nov. 11, 2004).”
The concrete fence was topped by layers of barbed wires.
Canlas noted that the area was part of the ‘bungkalan’ or collective cultivation area of the hacienda farmworkers before the RCBC fenced the property in 2013.
“This is just the start of our actions to reclaim our farmlands. We have demolished the walls — the symbol of the Cojuangco-Aquinos’ land grabbing and terror in Luisita,” said Rudy Corpuz, secretary of the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA).
“For decades, we were barred from entering our farmlands. Private security guards of the RCBC destroyed our crops and harassed our leaders and members. The former DAR under Virgilio delos Reyes implemented the bogus tambiolo land reform raffle. The Lorenzos of Mindanao invested in Central Azucarera de Tarlac and continue to exploit sugar mill workers and sacadas. We are fighting back again. It is our right and duty to defend our right to the land and reclaim what is rightfully ours,” Corpuz said.
For his part, KMP secretary general Antonio Flores said “we will continue to assert free land distribution through local peasant struggles, the passage of a genuine agrarian reform program and the approval of a Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the government.”
