Luisita farm workers hold assembly, call for immediate land distribution

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/