Luisita workers reap seeds of decades-old struggle

 Luisita workers reap seeds of decades-old struggle

"We occupied the land because it belongs to us. We used the idle land for the benefit of our children,”
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com
TARLAC CITY – “Now, we have something to eat,” Florida Sibayan, 55, a farm worker in Hacienda Luisita, said. “Life is better.”

She, along with hundreds of families inside the more than 6,000 hectare Hacienda Luisita, cultivated parcels of land for palay and vegetables, in defiance of the Cojuango-Aquino clan. Under the stock distribution option (SDO) scheme, farm workers were not allowed to plant palay and other crops, with the vast land devoted only to sugarcane.

The SDO was implemented in Hacienda Luisita, a non-land transfer scheme allowed under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), shortly after President Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino rose to power in 1986. Instead of land, stocks were distributed to the farm workers.

Seven years ago, Sibayan only knew hunger and hardships. As stockholders of Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI), each of the farm worker was given one day a week to work at the sugar plantation. They earn P9.50 ($0.22) per week, or P38 ($0.88) per month.

This meant starvation for the family. It was this situation that compelled Halili and hundreds of other farm workers to stage a strike in November 2004. On November 16, barely a week since they set up the picketline, policemen and soldiers fired at the farm workers, killing seven and wounding hundreds.

Lioning Halili, 55, vows to continue struggling for the future of her grandchildren.(Photo by Ronalyn V. Olea / bulatlat.com)

After what is now known as the Hacienda Luisita massacre, Halili and the other farm workers joined the bungkalan (cultivation). In 2005, Halili and her family planted palay on a five-hectare land in Cutcut. Sibayan’s family, meanwhile, started cultivating two hectares in Balete subvillage in 2006.

One hectare yields 120 sacks of palay. Halili sells palay at P13 ( $0.30) per kilo and/or rice at P76 ($1.77) for every three kilos. “Life is so much better compared to those days of misery,” she said, referring to the years before 2004.

Sibayan said the same. “We never run out of rice,” she said. She and her family harvest 145 sacks of rice every cropping season. “We are now selling vegetables.”.... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/11/18/luisita-workers-reap-seeds-of-decades-old-struggle/