MANILA, Philippines - A militant group challenged president-elect Benigno Aquino III to issue an executive order declaring the immediate, unconditional and free distribution of land to 10,000 Hacienda Luisita farm workers within his first 100 days in office.
“Noynoy should face this issue fair and square in his first 100 days…He should not evade the issues pertaining to the 6,453-hectare Hacienda Luisita.
An executive order could take place at any given time between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at any given working day in Malacañang,” said the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) in a statement.
The group said the ongoing dispute over Hacienda Luisita should be among the issues Aquino should include in his first order of business on July 1, his first working day in office.
Aquino had said that among the issues his administration would attend to are the problems he would inherit from outgoing President Arroyo, such as the budget deficit and the speedy prosecution of cases that could be filed against Mrs Arroyo and other government officials of the outgoing administration.
“To Mr. Aquino and company we dare ask – how do you solve a problem like Hacienda Luisita? This issue is a matter of life and death and they cannot escape this political calling, searching an end to landlessness, exploitation and injustice inside the 6,543-hectare Cojuangco-Aquino sugar estate,” said Pamalakaya chairman Fernando Hicap.
He questioned Aquino’s silence on his plan to form a truth commission which will probe scores of scandals that rocked the Arroyo administration over the last nine years, including a series of unexplained killings and other grave human rights violations committed against political activists and critics of the administration.