Luisita farm workers hold assembly, call for immediate land distribution
“Somehow, we see justice for our martyrs who struggled hard for this
day to come.” – Lito Bais, Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com
HACIENDA LUISITA, Tarlac – “This is an early Christmas gift from the
Lord,” Mila Gonzales, 58, said, referring to the Supreme Court decision
ordering the land distribution of Hacienda Luisita. “We can now afford
to buy a carabao to be used for farming. Now, we can eat regularly,” she
said.
Gonzales is one of the hundreds of farm workers who trooped to the
nipa hut at the 11th street in Balete village, past lunch of Nov. 29.
All smiles, members of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Asyenda Luisita
(Ambala) listened intently to their leaders and representatives of the
Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (Uma) and the Sentro para sa Tunay na
Repormang Agraryo (Sentra).
The Ambala’s general assembly was held a few days after the high
court, voting 14-0, ordered the distribution of 4,916 hectares of land,
owned by the family of President Benigno S. Aquino III, to the original
4,296 original farmworker beneficiaries (FWBs).
“When we heard the news, many shed tears of joy. We won the first
round of the battle but there is still a long way to go,” Lito Bais, Uma
chairman, told Bulatlat.com in an interview shortly after the assembly.
“What we want is genuine agrarian reform.”
“If only the Cojuangco-Aquinos returned our land to us much earlier,
we would not have suffered so much,” Gonzales said. Her six children
finished only Grade 6. “How could I send them to high school with a
meager P9.50 ($0.22) salary per week? I could not even finish my laundry
with that amount.”
The P9.50 ($0.22) was the payment received by farm workers before
they staged a strike in November 2006. Under the stock distribution
option (SDO) scheme implemented in the hacienda, farm workers were
entitled to only one day of work per week at the sugar plantation.
Now, like the rest of the farm workers, Gonzales is dreaming of a better life ahead.
Genuine agrarian reform
The farm workers are preparing for their next move. First, Bais said
they will assert zero compensation for the Cojuangco-Aquinos.
Bais said the Cojuangco-Aquinos have long benefited from the land.
“This is where their wealth came from. This has also been the source of
their political power. The land is ours, they just took it from us,”
Bais said.
Reacting to the SC decision, Aquino was quoted as saying, “Let us not
forget that under existing agrarian reform policies, we are pushing for
two objectives: first is the empowerment of the farmers, and then
enough capital should be left such that there is also just compensation
for the landowners.”.... MORE
Source: Bulatlat.com
URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/11/30/luisita-farm-workers-hold-assembly-call-for-immediate-land-distribution/
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1 comment
sumeyo, ganito ba karami ang kanseladong land ownership awards tapos nabibili lang muli ng landlord? malaki ngang kalokohan ang "reporma sa lupang" programa ng mga dilaw.
"“Amortization [for the land] is an added burden to farmers and farm workers,” Bais said, adding that there have been many cases of cancelation of certificate of land ownership awards (CLOAs). “If they could no longer pay, they would sell the land and the landlord would buy the land. In less than a year, the farmers would be out in the streets, demanding for genuine agrarian reform.”
"In December 2006 alone, Ibon Foundation revealed that 108,141 emancipation patents and CLOAs had been canceled, covering 204,579 hectares."
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