Guards fire shots in Luisita

ANGELES CITY, Philippines – Security guards backed by troops and policemen fired shots to scare off 300 farmers who prevented the fencing of parts of Hacienda Luisita yesterday.

No one was reported hurt.

In a telephone interview, Felix Nacpil, Alyansa ng Manggagawang Magbubukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) chairman, said that shots were fired by about 100 security guards, 10 policemen and 15 Army soldiers escorting workers tasked to fence off an area being cultivated by farmers in Barangay Balete.

“More than 300 Ambala members blocked the putting up of fences, and the armed escorts of the fence workers fired shots eight times to scare us off,” he said.

“They thought we would be cowed by the gunfire. We had it when we were massacred on Nov. 16, 2004. But we stayed put and continued to block the fencing, it is a triumphant defense of our rights to land.”

Nacpil said farmers have condemned the latest harassment by the Cojuangco-Aquinos.

“We all know that this is another desperate act of the Cojuangco-Aquinos to repress our struggle,” he said.

“What else could they do after this? We could never forget the massacre in 2004 that killed seven of us and more than a hundred wounded.

“We expect worse than this in the future when Hacienda Luisita would finally be distributed.”

Joseph Canlas, Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson (AMGL) chairman, said the incident is another attempt of the Cojuangco-Aquinos to use government forces “under the command of President Aquino” to block the full distribution of land in Hacienda Luisita.

“Aquino is lambasting Corona and at the same time neglecting the Supreme Court decision for the 4,915-hectare agricultural lands to be distributed to the farm worker-beneficiaries led by Ambala,” he said.

“Ambala has been demanding the pull-out of military since then, but now Aquino is employing government forces to threaten farm workers and repress their struggle for genuine land reform.”

AMGL and Ambala said Hacienda Luisita continues to be heavily militarized as detachments are still set up in 10 barangays since 2005.

“The Aquino government is using the police and military as their private armed group to protect their stake at Hacienda Luisita and repress the farm workers’ struggle for their rights to land,” the groups said.

Rally tomorrow

Farmers of Hacienda Luisita will hold a rally at the Supreme Court (SC) tomorrow to press the distribution of land at the Cojuangco-Aquino controlled estate in Tarlac.

In a joint statement, Ambala and AMGL said the Cojuangco-Aquinos used public funds to acquire Hacienda Luisita, and that they should have turned over the estate to tenants in 1967.

Canlas said Aquino is passing the ball to the SC, offering Corona a way out of the impeachment trial. 

“By reversing the ruling on Luisita, (Corona) would then keep his post as chief justice,” he said.

AMGL and Ambala said the Cojuangco-Aquinos do not deserve compensation on the lands, which they purchased on a conditional loan from the Government Service Insurance System in 1957.

The loan provided that after 10 years, Hacienda Luisita should be turned over to farmers as agrarian reform beneficiaries, the groups added.

Leaders of the two groups said Hacienda Luisita farm workers are gearing up for a multi-sectoral protest tomorrow in front of the SC to demand the immediate and free distribution of lands.

Aquino is again acting in defense of his family’s vested interest in Hacienda Luisita, now citing it as a pending case at the Supreme Court,” they said. 

Nacpil said everybody knows that the Cojuangcos used public funds to acquire Hacienda Luisita.

“Even the youngest of their clan have benefited from our ancestors’ sweat and blood by cultivating sugar cane for almost half a century,” he said.

Nacpil said the Cojuangco-Aquinos controlled Hacienda Luisita for 50 years.

“They clung to the lands though it should be distributed to the farmers as early as 1967,” he said.

“When Cory Aquino became president in 1986, she employed stock distribution option (SDO) under CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program) to deceive us by labeling us as stockholders. As SDO impoverished us, we went on strike in 2004, but we were massacred.”

“Everybody in the country knows the story of Hacienda Luisita, that is why the Episcopal Commission on Social Action, Justice and Peace of the CBCP (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines) has expressed support to the struggle,” Nacpil said.