Farmers slam Aquino’s call for ‘just compensation’ for Hacienda Luisita land
“The Cojuangcos have long benefited from their illegal and immoral stranglehold of Hacienda Luisita and the farmworkers’ have long paid for the land.”– Randall Echanis, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – After the Supreme Court issued its decision on the nearly half-a-century land dispute at Hacienda Luisita, President Benigno S. Aquino III said there should be just compensation for land owners.
The high court unanimously ordered, Nov. 23, the distribution of 4,916 hectares of Hacienda Luisita land, owned by Aquino and the Cojuangco clan, to the original 4,296 original farmworker beneficiaries (FWBs).
Asked to react on the high court’s decision, Aquino said, “In agrarian reform, there are two objectives: number one, empower the farmers so that they could have their own land to till. Second, don’t exhaust the capital. There should be just compensation for the land owner. The capital that will be returned to the landowner could be used to invest in other endeavors.”
“It is the height of callousness that President Benigno Simeon Aquino III now has the gall to demand for land compensation for his extended family,” Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano said.
Mariano, also chairman of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), said that since 1957, the Cojuangco-Aquino clan “has made a milking cow out of Hacienda Luisita sugar estate and amassed wealth by exploiting farmers and farmworkers.”
In 1957, the Cojuangcos acquired the Hacienda Luisita land through a government loan with a condition that the land shall be distributed to the farmers after ten years. Land distribution never took place until now.
“The nerve,” KMP deputy secretary general Randall Echanis said, “They have used government money to acquire the hacienda in the late 1950’s and have made a fortune for more than half a century now. And now, they want the government to pay for the land.”
Echanis said, “the Cojuangcos do not deserve compensation. The Cojuangcos have long benefited from their illegal and immoral stranglehold of Hacienda Luisita and the farmworkers’ have long paid for the land.”
Echanis said the “Cojuangcos still owe billions of pesos to the government and to farmworkers aside from blood debts,” referring to the massacre that claimed the lives of seven farm workers on November 16, 2004.
“Hacienda Luisita must be distributed to farmworkers for free.” Echanis said.
In an earlier interview with Bulatlat.com, Rodel Mesa, spokesman of Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala), said, “We will not agree to pay [amortization] or for the HLI to receive compensation from the government. The compensation to be paid to the Cojuangco-Aquinos will come from taxpayers,
including us. The Cojuangco-Aquinos have no right to receive any compensation. The Aquino administration has no right to pay his family because morally, historically, the land is ours.”.... MORE
Source: Bulatlat.com
URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/11/27/farmers-slam-aquino%E2%80%99s-call-for-%E2%80%98just-compensation%E2%80%99-for-hacienda-luisita-land/
2 comments:
KUNG hindi pa bayad ang utang na ginawa ng matandang cojuangco para makuha ang hacienda luisita ay dapat ngang wala na silang compensation. but even if the loan's already paid, they held on to the land that should have been distributed to farmers more than half a century ago--dapat isama itong katotohanang ito sa ano mang computation of compensation.
"Echanis said, “the Cojuangcos do not deserve compensation. The Cojuangcos have long benefited from their illegal and immoral stranglehold of Hacienda Luisita and the farmworkers’ have long paid for the land.”
"Echanis said the “Cojuangcos still owe billions of pesos to the government and to farmworkers aside from blood debts,” referring to the massacre that claimed the lives of seven farm workers on November 16, 2004."
Bayad muna?
Anong ipang bayad ng mga simpleng magsasaka?
Ayaw lang talaga ni kalbo sa madaling sabi.
Post a Comment