The Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid ng Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA) and the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) join the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) today in commemorating the 8th death anniversary of IFI Supreme Bishop Alberto B. Ramento who was killed by unknown assailants on October 3, 2006.

The late Bishop was honored as the “Bishop of the Poor Peasants and Workers”, when he earned the love and respect of farm workers in Hacienda Luisita for his staunch support to the historic sugar workers’ strike in 2004.

Bishop Ramento worked tirelessly to seek justice for the victims of the November 16, 2004 Hacienda Luisita Massacre. He actively joined international solidarity missions and consistently opposed the militarization of the sugar estate.

For his work as a fearless human rights advocate, Ramento earned the ire of the military, and received threats from elements led by “the butcher” General Jovito Palparan who was assigned in Central Luzon from 2005-2006. He then became a target for extra-judicial killing. Bishop Ramento was brutally stabbed in his rectory in Tarlac City.

Farmworkers believe that the Philippine National Police (PNP) is involved in the  systematic cover-up of the Ramento murder case. Police reports obscured  the political motives of the masterminds of the killing and made scapegoats of ordinary street-corner thieves. According to official police statements, Bishop Ramento was simply a victim of robbery with homicide.

Eight years after his death, justice remains elusive for Bishop Ramento with the Aquino administration’s special treatment for criminals like Palparan and with unabated rights violations in Hacienda Luisita.

Luisita farm workers will honor Bishop Ramento with an ecumenical service and tribute on October 16, 2014 in Hacienda Luisita. AMBALA and UMA will also pay tribute to Luisita strike supporters and labor leaders who also fell victim to extra-judicial killings in the month of October — Bayan-Muna Central Luzon Secretary General Florante Collantes  (killed October 15, 2005), Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union President and barangay Mapalacsiao Chairman Ricardo Ramos (killed October 25, 2005) and the most recent victim, Dennis dela Cruz of AMBALA who was found dead in the farmworkers’ collective farm on November 1, 2013.

The October 16 tribute to Bishop Ramento and other Luisita martyrs is part of a series of activities leading to the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the Hacienda Luisita massacre (HLMX) on November 16, 2014.

Reference:
Gi Estrada
UMA Media Officer
+639166114181

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By FLORIDA SIBAYAN
Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang-Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA)

What kind of message is the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz sending to the public in conferring unprecedented distinction to the Luisita Industrial Park – a hub widely-known to be part of the still dispute-ridden and controversial Hacienda Luisita estate?

While it is up to the workers themselves in the Luisita Industrial Park (LIP) to contest the ostentatious designation made by the DOLE in naming the LIP as the very first “Labor Law Compliant Eco-zone” in the country, this does not belie the fact that aggressive land grabbing and brazen human rights violations are continuously being perpetrated by the LIP administration under the Luisita Realty Corporation (LRC).

The LRC is one among the many notorious corporate avatars of the Cojuangco-Aquino family in Hacienda Luisita, where presidential sister Ballsy Aquino-Cruz is director while Pinky Aquino-Abellada and Viel Aquino-Dee sit as top stockholders.

DOLE’s conferment may be used to prop up the LRC’s pending application before the Philippine Economic Zone Authority’s (PEZA) Board to incorporate 260.4 hectares of agricultural land in Barangay Balete, Luisita to the existing Luisita Industrial Park complex. The PEZA granted the LRC a pre-qualification clearance on February 13, 2014, barely a week after the Cojuangco-Aquinos ordered the burning of farmers’ homes and the bulldozing of crops within the contested property.

Another Cojuangco-Aquino firm, Tarlac Development Corporation (TADECO) ordered the aggressive attacks against Hacienda Luisita farmers in Balete.  Violent eviction of farmers, bulldozing of ready-to-harvest palay crops and fencing off of the 260-hectare area from its tillers continued even after the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) affirmed the agricultural nature of the said property by issuing a Notice of land reform coverage (NOC) on December 17, 2013. The DAR did not lift a finger to stop TADECO’s assaults against Luisita farmers.

The headquarters of the 31^st company of the 3^rd Mechanized Battalion of the Philippine Army was constructed within this 260-hectare area last year with the blessings of the LRC. Soldiers have, since then, been practically deployed to serve in the Cojuangco-Aquino private army, intermitently mobilized to harass and evict farmers from the area. Bulldozers of the Cojuangco-Aquino family which were used to destroy farmers’ crops and homes are usually  parked right beside the army headquarters.

In successive incidents from September 2013 to March 2014, TADECO was able to evict tillers even without a court order through the deployment of private security guards, local police and fully-armed SWAT teams. The attacks resulted in the death of one of our members, Dennis dela Cruz, several cases of mauling, attempted murder and unlawful arrest, and the filing of harassment suits against hundreds of farmers.

Personnel – thugs – hired by the Cojuangco-Aquino family from the Great Star Security Agency, one of the Luisita Industrial Park’s subcontractors, are directly responsible for the violent attacks against farmers in Barangays Balete and Cutcut.  Great Star Security Services, Inc. was also declared compliant with General Labor Standards and issued Certificates of Compliance (CoC) yesterday, October 1, in a high-profile ceremony at the LIP compound which was graced by Baldoz herself.

Security guards from the Great Star Security Services Inc. are also involved in the shooting of a group of farmers in disputed farmlands in Barangay Maimpis, San Fernando, Pampanga on July 28, 2014. It seems that violation of human rights is their forte.

The Cojuangco-Aquinos are hell-bent on maintaining control of the Luisita estate and in implementing their grand master plan to convert the sugar plantation into a giant commercial hub, in contempt and complete reversal of the 2012 Supreme Court decision for total land distribution.

Ten years after the Hacienda Luisita Massacre, Luisita farmers are still denied land and justice. President BS Aquino’s alter-egos like Baldoz of  DOLE and Gil delos Reyes of DAR, act like extensions of this insatiable landlord family in ruthlessly extracting every last drop of blood, sweat and tears from Luisita farmworkers.

For Reference:
FLORIDA SIBAYAN
c/o AMBALA – Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura
56 K-9 Street, Kamias, Quezon City
Contact Number: +639293201477

National Solidarity Mission Update 3: Lacub children affected by military operations, military encampment near school

A helicopter flying above the school ground was among the disturbing images drawn by the students. Many of them recalled that their classes were often disturbed because of the ear- deafening sound of the helicopter that land and bring supplies to the soldiers encamped near their school.

These were some of the images sketched by some 60 Grade 5 and 6 pupils of the Bantugo Central School who underwent psychosocial first aid conducted by members of Salinlahi and the Children’s Rehabilitation Center (CRC) as part of the National Solidarity Mission in Lacub, Abra. Noticeably, most of the children skipped the military detachment in their drawings. Salinlahi-CRC facilitators said it may be due to fear of talking about the detachment and that children naturally draw “happy things”.

The schoolchildren were among those affected by the military operation in Lacub, Abra on Sept. 4 and 5. At the height of the military operation on Sept. 5, members of the 41st Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army, stationed at a detachment in Sitio Bantugo, Poblacion, Lacub fired weapons towards Talampac Proper and Pacoc, Talampac. An M203 shell was found in the farming area of Bobon. Said detachment is on the elementary and high school grounds, separated only by a basketball court and a volleyball court. The volleyball and basketball courts where the students play are near the military’s helipad and a few meters away from the military detachment.

On Sept. 6, parents decided not to send their children to school for fear of another military action. School authorities were forced to suspend classes for almost two weeks, as students were no longer coming to school.

During the psychosocial first aid, the students talked about the gunshots they heard. Two of the pupils who joined the psychosocial first aid were children of those used by the military as human shields. The children knew of the word torture. Some of the students said they saw the mutilated bodies of the NPA members, without eyes and broken arms. Another boy said every time he passes by the covered court at the municipal hall, heis reminded of the dead bodies lying on the court.

In a group discussion, some elementary teachers told NSM delegates that while they, too, feared for their lives;they had no choice but to report to school despite the absence of most of their students. The teachers said they await the LGUs response to the parents’ petition to remove the 41st IB detachment near the school premises. The teachers are aware of the Department of Education’s memorandum to the Department of National Defense. But, they wonder why the local government has not acted on the petition.

In 2011, when the detachment was set up near the school, the parents and the local people’s organization, Tulbek (Tignayan dagititi Umili ti Lacub Bantayan Ekolohiya ken Kinabaknang), immediately passed a petition to the local government expressing opposition and their desire for the military to pull out of the community, anticipating incidents such as what happened in Sept. 5.  In April this year, the LGU denied receipt of the petition letter.

After the psychosocial first aid, Salinlahi-CRC facilitators said the children expressed fear of the dangers posed by the existence of a military detachment near their school.

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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Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura
(Agricultural Workers Union)
Philippines
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