IN FOCUS

Martyrs. The blood of martyrs nurtured the lands of Hacienda Luisita.

HACIENDA LUISITA, Tarlac City -- They came back, not in the thousands as they did when the massacre occurred two years ago, but with the same fervor to continue their struggle for land and justice in Hacienda Luisita.

A black granite memorial shrine now stands in Gate 1 of the sugar mill. It bore the names of 13 of the 15 people who were killed in the course of the controversial labor dispute that pitted the family of former president Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino and about 6,000 plantation and sugar mill workers.

Wreaths and candles

Last November 16, as company guards and police watched warily, the workers, their families and supporters laid wreaths and lighted candles on the shrine to mark the 2nd anniversary of the massacre.

On the shrine were the words “Ang kanilang buhay ay ginintuang alay para sa mamamayan ng Hacienda Luisita sa kanilang makatwirang pakikipaglaban para sa lupa, sahod at karapatan” (Their lives are a golden offering for the people of Hacienda Luisita in their just struggle for land, jobs and justice).

The sugar cane harvest season begun a week ago and the sugar mill is in full operation. Trucks loaded with sugar cane are lined up at the mill entrance waiting for their turn to unload. Some are parked on the vacant lot in front of the gate where the barricades stood during the strike.

On this spot, seven strikers where killed when soldiers and police fired at protesters manning the barricades at the height of the strike exactly two years ago. Thirteen months later, the strike ended with the workers claiming victory.

But not before six union leaders and supporters were assassinated one after another. After the barricades were lifted on December 2005, two more leaders, Tirso Cruz, a Luisita union leader and Aglipayan bishop Alberto Ramento, an outspoken supporter of the workers were killed.

At high noon, after a brief stop in Gate 1, the entourage that included Bayan Muna representative Satur Ocampo, leaders of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, human rights organizations and a Canadian fact-finding mission proceeded to the Mapalacsiao barangay (village) hall where they held the program.

(The workers have asked permission from the company to hold commemorative rites in Gate 1 but they were allowed only two hours—from 1 to 3 pm, too short a time for the program planned by the workers.)

IN FOCUS

Honored Guest. BAYAN Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo.

Conflict

The strike-related killings reflect the depth of the conflict in the hacienda that persists today, almost a year after the strike ended.

At the core of the conflict is the ownership of the 6,000 has. sugar plantation.

The Cojuangco family acquired the hacienda from the Spanish owners in 1958 through loans guaranteed by the Philippine government—a move that the workers claim derailed their petition for land distribution at that time.

After the acquisition, the workers waited for the implementation of a provision in an agreement in one of the loan packages that required the Cojuangco family to distribute the land to the farm workers after 10 years.

The Cojuangco family did not implement the agreement and became defendants in a law suit. In December 1985, the court ruled in favor of the farm workers but their hopes were dashed when Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino was catapulted to the presidency after the February 1986 popular uprising.

As president, Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino declared land reform as her center-piece program and implemented the stock distribution plan (SDP) in the hacienda in 1988 under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Last straw

The SDP proved to be the last straw in the contentious relations between the workers and the Cojuangco family. Under the SDP, stock certificates were distributed instead of land.

After 15 years, the farm workers found themselves with only a day’s work per week and were being laid-off en masse. Almost 2,000 has. has also been carved out of the hacienda by this time and converted to non-agricultural use.

On November 6, 2004 the plantation and sugar mill workers struck over the termination of union officers and low wages and benefits. But they knew that the SDP is the cause of their troubles and they also demanded that it be revoked and for land reform to be implemented in the hacienda.

In December 2005, the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council ruled that the Cojuangco family violated provisions in the SDP and placed the hacienda under land distribution.

The decision, acknowledged by the workers as their victory, still stands today but was temporarily stalled by a temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court last June.

IN FOCUS

Ric Ramos. The village hall in Mapalacsiao is now named after him.

Mapalacsiao

Mapalacsiao (pop. 10,000), is one of 10 villages in the hacienda located just a kilometer away from the massacre site. It has also become a battle ground for the parties in the conflict.

The village hall is now named after Ricardo Ramos, village chairman and president of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union, the sugar mill workers’ union.

Ramos, the 13th Luisita martyr was gunned down in the village allegedly by soldiers on October 25, 2005.

Aside from being a key strike leader, Ramos opposed the deployment of soldiers in the village and led residents in forming human barricades to protest the construction of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway Project that cuts across the village and the entire hacienda.

At the façade of the village hall behind the makeshift altar where the commemorative mass was held hangs a tarpaulin mural depicting the struggle of the workers and their triumph in finally being able to till the land for their own use.

Stalks of newly-harvested rice, vegetables and sugar cane where on display to show that ‘people’s land reform’ is definitely better than their former status as ill-paid wage earners.

The workers claim that since the strike, more than 1,000 has. been gradually transformed into farms where food crops are now produced by the workers and their families.

The Cojuangco family can only watch as the farm workers and their families started cultivating idle land during the height of the strike. With the SDP revoked and the issue of land distribution once again in the courts, the farm workers continued to expand cultivation and now say they are much better-off than tilling the land than being paid workers.

IN FOCUS

Search for justice. Families and friends of vicitms honor their loved ones.

Search for justice

“We will not rest until justice for the victims is achieved,’ said Romeo Ramos, brother of the slain labor leader. He said not one of the suspects has been arrested and blames the Cojuangco family and the government for master-minding the killings and coddling the suspects.

Roman Catholic Bishop Florentino Cinense said in his homily during the ecumenical mass that the search for truth and justice must continue although “the methods on how these can be achieved may sometimes be different.”

“The real meaning of paying tribute to the memory of our martyrs is for us to persevere and continue with the struggle for land, jobs and justice,” Rene Galang, president of the United Luisita Workers’ Union (ULWU) said in a statement.

Galang led the 5,000-strong plantation workers’ union but he had to leave the hacienda and seek sanctuary elsewhere when the strike ended because of serious threats on his life.

High stakes

With the high stakes at hand, both parties are still locked in a virtual life-and death struggle.

During the strike, virtually all the residents in the 10 barangays comprising the hacienda threw their support behind the striking workers.

Some 15,000 workers and their supporters were massed at the gates of the sugar mill and in more than 10 barricades surrounding the factory on the day the massacre occurred and faced a phalanx of more than 1,000 soldiers, police and company guards.

The government has regarded the Luisita dispute as a “matter of national security” and has deployed military units in the villages where they remained until today.

Aside from the killings, the soldiers have been blamed on numerous cases of abductions, torture, physical and mental abuse, harassments and other human rights violations which did not stop when the strike ended. Cases have been filed in court against the soldiers.

Uneasy peace

The tension between civilians and the military lingers and occasionally disturbs the uneasy peace in the hacienda.

In fact, days before November 16, the residents reported that military checkpoints were placed on roads leading to the sugar mill. Workers who went around the villages to invite people to join the commemoration also reported that they were harassed by the military.

The caravan of some 17 vehicles of the contingent from Metro Manila and the Central Luzon provinces was confronted by police in San Fernando , Pampanga.

Three of the vehicles in the caravan suffered flat tires due to metal spikes strewn by military agents along the road, according to Joseph Canlas, chairperson of the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL).

“The workers were left with no choice but to continue fighting. The repression they experience everyday proves that the government and the Cojuangco family want to perpetuate land monopoly,” Canlas said.