ANGELES CITY – Tension has again peaked at Hacienda Luisita as the Tarlac Development Corp. (Tadeco) which is owned by Pres. Aquino’s family, resumed last Sunday afternoon the bulldozing of farmers’ crops in Barangay Cutcut within the estate.
This, despite an earlier “notice of coverage” issued by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) declaring the area being claimed by Tadeco as land reform area. The Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid ng Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) reported that at about 3 p.m. Sunday, some 50 armed personnel of the Great Star Security Agency employed by Tadeco started bulldozing the farm workers’ ricefield in Barangay Cutcut.
“Dozens of Amabala members who rushed to the scene were able to stop Tadeco guards but only after the bulldozers already flattened around a hectare of the area,” Ambala spokesperson Christopher Garcia said. Ambala has asserted that on top of the notice of coverage issued by DAR, “the farmlands in Cutcut are subject of a pending court case.”
Most of the hacienda, owned by Pres. Aquino’s family, was already distributed last year under land reform as ordered by the Supreme Court in 2012. But some areas, including some 500 hectares of contiguous land, are being claimed by Tadeco which used to run the entire estate.
“Tadeco also ordered the bulldozing of more than a hundred hectares of crops in Barangay Balete during the Christmas season. The destruction of crops and eviction of farmers was actively assisted by the Tarlac provincial police and also led to the mauling, unlawful arrest and detention of five farmers,” Garcia recalled.
He also reported that “268-hectare agricultural land in Barangay Balete, which is also subject of the same DAR notice issued last December 17, is already fenced with barbed wires, iron sheets and concrete.”
“The area is also heavily guarded by armed Tadeco guards and by a company of soldiers belonging to the 3rd Mechanized Batallion. This army unit’s headquarters, located inside the fenced Tadeco area, is also where the Cojuangco bulldozers are parked,” he noted.
Garcia also claimed that ex-Land Transportation Office chief Virgie Torres is now under the employ of the Cojuangcos in Tarlac to help the family in the conflicts in the hacienda. Despite DAR’s issuing earlier a notice of
coverage of the disputed hacienda areas, Ambala accused the agency of protecting the interests of the President’s family in the hacienda.
Garcia noted that “Ambala had already filed a petition for a cease and desist order (CDO) against Tadeco before the DAR’s regional office in Pampanga a day after Christmas, December 26” and that “the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) immediately furnished the DAR Main Offi ce in Quezon City copies of this urgent petition.”
“The DAR issued an impotent ‘show cause order’ to Tadeco via courier service the next day. Farmers were able to confi rm the inutility of the DAR’s ‘due process’ when low-level officials of the DAR admitted in a dialogue with Ambala that they cannot as yet do anything about the CDO petition because the Cojuangcos refused to receive the show cause order,” Garcia said.
