For cultivating own land, Luisita farm workers ordered arrested

For cultivating own land, Luisita farm workers ordered arrested 
In another twist in the long-standing agrarian dispute at Hacienda Luisita of the Cojuangco-Aquino clan, a Tarlac court issued warrants of arrest against the farm workers for cultivating the land for survival.
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – A local court in Tarlac City issued yesterday a warrant of arrest for 22 farm workers of Hacienda Luisita on charges of grave coercion.

Jobert Pahilga, lawyer of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) said Judge Marvin Mangino of Branch 1 of the Municipal Trial Court in Tarlac City ordered the arrest of Lito Bais, chairman of Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (Uma) and former chairman of Ambala and 21 other farm workers, including five village officials, in connection with the charges filed by the Rizal Commercial and Banking Corporation (RCBC).

The RCBC filed the charges in July, two weeks after the farm workers cultivated portions of the 184 hectares of land being claimed by the bank. The RCBC acquired the land on November 24, 2004 as payment for the loan obligations of Luisita Industrial Park Corporation (Lipco). The transfer was made eight days after the massacre on November 16, 2004 that claimed the lives of seven farm workers.

“We will face the charges. In doing so, we expose the rottenness of the Aquino administration and its collusion with landlords and capitalists,” Bais told Bulatlat.com in an interview, March 19.
“It is very clear that the Aquino administration does not want to give us land to till or, more correctly, to return to us the land that they have taken from us,” Bais said in Filipino.

The farm workers have been fighting for their land for more than 50 years. Since 1957, when the Cojuangcos acquired Hacienda Luisita using a government loan, the Cojuangco-Aquinos have been using every trick in the book to maintain their stranglehold in the more than 6,000 hectares of land.

After the farm workers staged a strike in November 2004, they started cultivating portions of land that used to be planted with sugarcane. During the implementation of the stock distribution option (SDO), farm workers were prohibited from planting palay (rice) and other crops.

“The charges have no legal and factual basis,” Pahilga told members of the media, March 20. “The farm workers did nothing wrong, they just cultivated the land for survival. This is harassment.”

Pahilga said they filed a motion seeking to dismiss the case before the Prosecutor’s Office in Tarlac City but was ignored. “Under the law, it is clearly stated that in cases of agrarian dispute, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) should have jurisdiction.”.... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/03/20/for-cultivating-land-luisita-farm-workers-ordered-arrested/