Six Years Since the Hacienda Luisita Massacre, Six Years of Injustice

Six Years Since the Hacienda Luisita Massacre, Six Years of Injustice

“Land reform is a question of social justice. It is at the heart of the conflict in Luisita.” – Renato Reyes of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan.
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO

Bulatlat.com
HACIENDA LUISITA, Tarlac – To date, no one has been held accountable for the November 16, 2004 massacre that claimed the lives of seven farm workers at the picket line of Hacienda Luisita’s Gate 1 over six years ago.

“This is characteristic of the justice system in this country. Come to think of it, has a member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the police and influential families ever been sent to jail?” Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano told Bulatlat during the commemoration of the massacre last November 16.

More than 5,000 peasant workers of Hacienda Luisita went on strike on November 6, 2004, demanding the reinstatement of 327 farm workers who were laid off by the HLI management. Ten days later, an armed personnel carrier of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) rammed through the picket line, then soldiers, police officers, and reportedly some private security guards of the hacienda, fired at the strikers killing seven farm workers and residents of the Hacienda Luisita and wounding more than a hundred. Six more were reportedly killed but the bodies were never found. Union leaders could not identify them as they were seasonal workers, more commonly known as the ‘sacadas.’

The military claimed that the violence occurred because they were provoked by the striking farm workers. A report prepared by the Philippine National Police (PNP) claimed that the “initial burst of gunfire, single shots in succession, came from the ranks of the striking workers after they crossed the gate and invaded the CAT (Central Azucarera de Tarlac) compound.”

Contingents from Metro Manila having lunch at the Luisita Park, before continuing their caravan to HLI’s Gate 1(Photo by Ron de Vera / bulatlat.com)

Aquino, who was then the district representative of Tarlac, defended the dispersal, saying that the police and soldiers were “subjected to sniper fire coming from an adjacent barangay (village).”

The PNP’s report also claimed that there was evidence that “confirms the presence and participation of the NPA (New People’s Army) in the strike,” where 100 police and soldiers were allegedly injured. The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Mariano, however, doubts that the strike was infiltrated by the NPA, saying that this was just an excuse of the military and the Cojuanco-Aquino family to avoid being held accountable for the crime..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/11/20/six-years-since-the-hacienda-luisita-massacre-six-years-of-injustice/