No land, no justice. Farmers suffer more violence, deception and land grabbing under the Aquino administration’s bogus land reform in Hacienda Luisita.

Atty. Jobert Pahilga of the Sentro para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (SENTRA), counsel of Hacienda Luisita farmers under the alliance AMBALA, recently filed a motion before the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) protesting the agency’s disqualification of  125 farmworkers-beneficiaries (FWBs) from becoming awardees of Hacienda Luisita lands covered by government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

The DAR sent out disqualification notices to 125 FWBs, composed mainly of AMBALA leaders and members who consistently fought for the revocation of the Stock Distribution Option (SDO) scheme and for land distribution in Hacienda Luisita since 2003, when AMBALA lodged its historic petition and joined the Hacienda Luisita People’s Strike in 2004 along with the United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU) and the Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU).

In an order dated August 26, 2014 the DAR cited the FWBs’ failure to sign a promissory note, the Application to Purchase and Farmers’ Undertaking (APFU), as basis for disqualification. The APFU binds FWBs to pay amortization for the farmlots over a period of 30 years.

Luisita farmers, however assert that they should not be obliged to pay for the land because their ownership was affirmed when farmworkers were declared “stockholders” of  the Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI) in 1989, and entered agricultural lands as their share, composing 33% of the corporation. Moreover, FWBs have already paid HLI for the value of the land by their labor and “mandays.”

“We are in fact, the rightful owners of Hacienda Luisita,” said Florida Sibayan, AMBALA chairperson. Sibayan  also lambasted the DAR for consistently ruling against the interests of Luisita farmers. “The Supreme Court affirmed that the Cojuangcos still owe us our share of the whooping Php 1.33 Billion-peso sale of Hacienda Luisita land assets – agricultural lands cunningly sold to the Luisita Industrial Park Co., RCBC and the BCDA for the SCTEX right-of-way. The DAR must work to have the Cojuangcos pay us immediately, and not the other way around,”  said Sibayan.

“There should be no need to require farmworkers to apply for the purchase of lands that they already own. There is therefore, no basis for DAR’s imposition to FWBs to sign the AFPU,” said Pahilga.

Atty. Pahilga also pointed out that the disqualification of the 125 FWB’s is unwarranted because “the said order has no factual and legal basis and was issued in violation of the rights of the said FWBs to due process of law.  It was also issued while the Motion of AMBALA questioning the validity of the ‘tambiolo system’ of land reform implemented by the DAR and the order to sign the AFPU under pain of disqualification is still pending with the Supreme Court.”

The CARP law, RA 6657 as amended by RA 9700, does not provide as basis for disqualification of a beneficiary, the failure or refusal of the farmer to sign the AFPU. “In the same vein, their failure to claim their lot allocation certificate or even their Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA), is not a ground to disqualify farmers,” said Pahilga.

Aside from this latest move, officials of the DAR have been directly involved in displacement of farmers and destruction of crops in Barangays Mapalacsiao and Asturias.

“The DAR’s lot allocation via ‘tambiolo’ (raffle draw) was designed to attack our land cultivation program bungkalan and facilitate the reconcentration of lands back to the Cojuangco-Aquinos,”  said Sibayan.

The DAR also condoned the violent assaults of Cojuangco-Aquino firm Tarlac Develoment Corporation (TADECO) by denying the Cease and Desist Order (CDO) filed by AMBALA to stop illegal eviction of the farmers and destruction of crops and properties in barangays Balete and Cutcut. From November 2013 to March 2014, TADECO ordered the bulldozing and destruction of more than a hundred hectares of palay and other food crops, burning of homes, and fencing off of some 360 hectares of agricultural lands. The attacks resulted in the death of one AMBALA member, Dennis dela Cruz,  mauling and unlawful arrests, and the filing of harassment suits to hundreds of farmers.

More recently, the DAR acted favorably on the appeal by TADECO to exempt the 358 hectares of lands from land reform by planning to conduct a special hearing on Oct. 28 – 30, 2014 at the Office of the DAR  Regional Director in Pampanga.

In a decision issued by Atty. Roland Cua OIC-Director of the Bureau of Agrarian Legal Assistance (BALA), also last August 26,  the DAR put the burden of proof on AMBALA as to why the above-mentioned agricultural land must be distributed to beneficiaries. Even if it was the DAR which issued a Notice of Coverage (NOC) for the said lands in December 17, 2013, for eventual land distribution.

“Disqualification and consistent attacks against organizations and individuals who fought for land and justice in Hacienda Luisita – this is how the government honors the memory of those who were killed fighting for our rights,” said Sibayan, referring to the seven farmworkers who died during the infamous Hacienda Luisita massacre of 2004.

Farmers point to President BS Aquino, who was then a congressman and manager of the Luisita estate, as one of the perpetrators of the massacre.

Luisita farmers and their supporters are preparing international solidarity activities in the weeks leading to the 10th year commemoration of the Hacienda Luisita massacre (HLMX) on November 16, 2014.

Source Verification:
Gi Estrada
UMA Media Officer
+639166114181

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(Agricultural Workers Union)
Philippines
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http://www.karapatan.org/Nat%E2%80%99l+Solidarity+Mission+to+investigate+rights+abuses+in+Abra

A National Solidarity Mission (NSM) to Lacub, Abra commenced yesterday, as representatives of various people’s organizations, human rights groups and progressive partylist organizations joined human rights workers and peace advocates in Northern Luzon. The mission is set to investigate human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law in Lacub, Abra, in the light of the continuing military operations of the 41st Infantry Battalion and the 5th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army in the area since August this year.

The Manila contingent is composed of Kabataan Partylist Rep. Terry Ridon, leaders and representatives of Karapatan, United Church of Christ in the Philippines, National Council of Churches in the Philippines, Center for Trade Union and Human Rights, Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas, Gabriela Women’s Partylist, Children’s Rehabilitation Center, Salinlahi, Task Force for Indigenous People’s Rights, Health Alliance for Democracy, Student Christian Movement of the Philippines, National Union of Students in the Philippines, League of Filipino Students, and Anakbayan.

According to the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance, a chapter of Karapatan in the region, the extrajudicial killing of Engineer Fidela Salvador –a consultant of the Cordillera Disaster Response and Development Services Inc. (CorDisRDS) and the Center for Development Programs in the Cordillera (CDPC) and Lacub resident Noel Viste, the AFP use of 24 civilians as human shields in the conduct of their operation, the AFP use of civilian guides and the endangerment of civilians are among the grave human rights and international humanitarian law violations in the said municipality, which resulted from the military operations of the AFP.

CHRA-Karapatan also reported that seven members of the New People’s Army (NPA) were killed in the AFP operations and their bodies, as observed during the retrieval, bore signs and strong indications of probable torture and desecration of remains.

Cristina Palabay, Karapatan Secretary General, said that the official autopsy and narrative reports of the National Bureau of Investigation in the Cordillera Administrative Region (NBI-CAR) on the bodies of Arnold “AJ” Jaramillo and Recca Noelle Monte indicate that they were brutally and inhumanely killed by the military.

Palabay added that the same military unit was also responsible for the military operations on October 10, 2011, which resulted to the death of eight members of the NPA in Tineg, Abra. The bodies of the eight individuals were desecrated, and there were strong indications of inhumane treatment and that most who died were not given quarter or were not spared, when they were already in no position to defend themselves.

The 41st IBPA is also responsible for the massacre of members of the Ligiw family in Baay-Licuan, Abra. On March 7, 2014, the bodies of local residents Eddie Ligiw, his sons Freddie and Licuben were found pile up in a shallow grave near the victims’ pacalso (“hut”), all were bound, gagged and were in fetal positions. The Ligiws were farmers and small-scale miners in the area.

On September 13, Army Chief Lt. Gen. Hernando Iriberri gave awards and citations to soldiers of the 41st IBPA, citing the unit’s contribution for the success of the AFP’s Oplan Bayanihan.

“BS Aquino and the AFP certainly have this distorted sense of justice and respect for human rights by rewarding this massacre battalion with awards, instead of holding them accountable for human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law. How swift they are in pouring praises for this notorious battalion, when they have not moved an inch in looking into the complaints of relatives of the victims and have not heeded the call of the people of Abra to pull out these soldiers from their communities,” Palabay said.

As of this writing, the AFP operations continue in Lacub and nearby municipalities, seriously affecting agricultural production and small-scale mining activities, resulting to effects on the people’s livelihood and food source, CHRA reported.

“AFP operations in Abra under Oplan Bayanihan should stop immediately and the 41st IBPA and all military units involved in the said operations should be pulled out and prosecuted,” Palabay said.

Reference:
Cristina “Tinay” Palabay
Secretary General
+63917-3162831

Angge Santos
Media Liaison
+63918-9790580

Other references:
http://www.karapatan.org/updated-UA-Abra-Immediate-Cessation-of-AFP-Military-Operations-in-Abra

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PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publicinfo@karapatan.org
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Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights
2nd Flr. Erythrina Building
#1 Maaralin corner Matatag Streets
Central District, Diliman
Quezon City, PHILIPPINES 1101
Telefax: (+63 2) 4354146
Web: http://www.karapatan.org

KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties.  It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign. 

LACUB, Abra — More than a hundred delegates from Church, human rights, lawyers groups and people’s organizations from Metro Manila, Baguio City, and Ilocos, Cagayan Valley joined the families of the victims of human rights violations in going back to the communities in Lacub, Abra affected by the AFP Northern Luzon Command-directed military operation launched by the 41st Infantry Battalion in 4 and 5 September 2014. Said military operation resulted in the killing of two civilians and seven members of the New People’s Army.

The families and relatives of Robert Beyyao and Recca Noelle Monte of Kalinga, and Brandon Magrana of Mountain Province, also joined the mission to visit the site where their loved ones were killed, to talk to the people in the community, and to know first-hand the circumstances of the death of the killed members of the New People’s Army. The bodies of the slain members of the NPA bore signs of violations of the International Human Rights Law.

The solidarity mission was conducted upon the request of the residents of Lacub after a series of human rights violations were committed by the military against the civilian population during the Sept. 4-5 operations. Esteban Ferreran, Secretary General of Tulbek, welcomed the National Solidarity Mission delegates, “I hope this mission would be fruitful for all of us,” he said in Ilocano. Tulbek (Timpuyog dagiti ti Umili iti Lacub), an affiliate of the Cordillera People’s Alliance hosts the mission.

The delegation was divided into three teams and immediately sent off to the villages of Guinguinabang, Talampak and Lacub town proper where several activities are lined up: psycho social therapy and medical services, focused-group discussions and documentation and tributes to slain community members.

As of this writing, the Lacub Mayor and Vice Mayor have not yet accepted the team’s request for an audience. Some members of the Lacub municipal council said both officials are out of Lacub.

The delegation assigned to meet the town officials would have wanted to specifically ask for the actions taken by the local government on the petition letter of the residents of villages of Lacub for the military to pull-out of their communities as early as 2011. The military detachment in between a high school and elementary school is another cause of concern among the residents.

An ecumenical service and a community forum in Lacub town are among the activities expected to cap the mission.

http://www.karapatan.org/BS+Aquino%2C+AFP+treating+Palparan+and+Purisima+like+sacred+cows

“Human rights violators and plunderers in the military and police are being treated like sacred cows by the Aquino administration,” Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan said as their group supports the motion filed by private prosecutors on the criminal charges against retired M/Gen. Jovito S. Palparan.

Filed by National Union of Peoples Lawyers (NUPL), representing complainants Mrs. Concepcion Empeno and Mrs. Linda Cadapan, the motion to transfer custody requests the Malolos Regional Trial Court Branch 14 to transfer Gen. Palparan from Philippine Army Custodial Center (PACC) to a civilian detention in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig, City.

“An army general accountable for heinous crimes and jailed in a military camp is no less than a special treatment,” Palabay said. “BS Aquino’s defense of PNP chief Alan Purisima on questions regarding his lifestyle is the same special treatment. These uniformed men are being treated like sacred cows, shielding them from justice,” Palabay added.

Currently facing two counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention for the disappearance of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno, Ret. M/Gen. Palparan’s motion to transfer detention from Bulacan Provincial Jail was granted by the court under the sala of Judge Teodora Gozales. The court invoked Palparan’s “existing threat to life and security”, “expenses” and “safety of other inmates” in its decision to transfer him to Philippine Army Custodial Center – a place where Palparan is most comfortable, second to his home, according to Karapatan.

Karapatan asserts that Palparan should be in a civilian jail for the PACC has no jurisdiction over the Palparan.

“This case has not even commenced substantially since Palparan was arrested, but already are showing signs of injustice, what more can we expect in the duration of the trial?” Palabay said.

“BS Aquino’s defense of criminals is disgusting. First is the treatment for pork scammers Janet Lim Napoles and three senators. Now, the protection and defense for uniformed criminals, Palparan and Purisima. This is clearly impunity,” Palabay concluded.

Reference:
Cristina “Tinay” Palabay
Secretary General
+63917-3162831

Angge Santos
Media Liaison
+63918-9790580

———————————————————————
PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publicinfo@karapatan.org
———————————————————————

Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights
2nd Flr. Erythrina Building
#1 Maaralin corner Matatag Streets
Central District, Diliman
Quezon City, PHILIPPINES 1101
Telefax: (+63 2) 4354146
Web: http://www.karapatan.org

KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties.  It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign.