The national farmers’ federation also expressed doubt Torres would be prosecuted over reports she had tried to pressure the Bureau of Customs (BoC) to release P100-million worth of smuggled sugar by namedropping Pres. Aquino.
“Shameless influence peddling and cronyism, hitting headlines on the 43rd anniversary of the declaration of martial law is not plain coincidence,” noted John Milton Lozande, UMA acting chairperson.
Lozande cited alleged attempts by Malacanang “to cover-up the whole BoC fiasco amid reports that Torres had claimed the funds from the imported sugar would be used for the 2016 elections.”
“BoC officials are now reportedly backtracking their earlier statements, on apparent orders from Malacanang,” he noted.
Lozande said “Malacanang seems torn between ensuring elections funds and building up the Liberal Party’s tainted image.”
He said, however, that “no amount of spin and damage control can save the administration’s bet for the 2016 presidential elections, Mar Roxas, from this new scandal.”
Lozande noted that “aside from being Casino Queen, Torres is also Aryendo Queen in Hacienda Luisita.” Torres resigned as LTO chief after a video showing her playing slot machines in a casino went viral.
“Aryendo is the practice of illicit lease agreements brokered by dummies like Torres for the Aquino-Cojuangcos to maintain control of sugarcane production despite supposed land reform (in Hacienda Luisita),” he said.
Lozande said “incidents of violent eviction and bulldozing of farmers’ food crops have also involved the Aryendo Queen and her goons in Barangay Mapalacsiao, where Torres has gained control over at least 200 hectares of land.”
Rudy Corpuz, vice chair of the Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid ng Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) said “impunity in Hacienda Luisita is so high that we are practically under Martial Law.”
“These lease agreements (allegedly brokered by Torres) are illegal even by the provisions of the pro-landlord CARP, but did we see the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) conduct any investigation on Torres?
Farmworkers filed cases against Torres at the Department of Justice (DOJ) last year but the victims’ complaints are now just gathering dust,” said Corpuz.
Torres reportedly namedropped the President for Custom officials to release at least 64 containers of Thai sugar.
She allegedly claimed close affinity with the President by citing her role in Hacienda Luisita by saying “I lease land and we plant together.”
Lozande said “Torres’ intimations on her links with the President and Hacienda Luisita are all true. Since early last year, we have been getting reports from UMA and its local affiliate in Tarlac, the Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita, exposing Torres’s hand in the Aquino administration’s fake land distribution in Hacienda Luisita.”
“Aquino is only interested in swindling and discrediting farmers, and regaining control of the hacienda where the political power of their landlord clan practically came from,” said Corpuz.
According to the Department of Agriculture’s figures, sugar smuggling amounts to $18,675,000 every year, affecting small sugar planters and the thousands of their sugar workers across the country.
UMA cited US Department of Agriculture estimates that 150,000 to 200,000 tons of smuggled sugar, mostly from Thailand, enter the country annually amounting from P 3.3 billion to P4.4 billion.
When sold, however, smuggled sugar would cost around P7.05 billion to P9.4 billion.
“Aquino’s patriotic posturings in enacting the Sugar Industry Development Act (SIDA) of 2015 to supposedly protect the sugar industry is further exposed with this Torres sugar smuggling fiasco. SIDA’s P2-billion budget is another likely source of election funds for sugar baron-trapos,” Lozande said.
