OCTOBER 25, 2006

The workers and the people of Hacienda Luisita have proven that only land reform can uplift their lives and bring them out of feudal oppression and exploitation.

We embarked on organized cultivation of the land at the height of the strike in June last year and we are now reaping bountiful harvests of rice, vegetables and other food crops.

We are slowly transforming the sugar plantation into a land where the people truly enjoy the fruits of their labor. To date, about 2,000 hectares in the 10 barangays comprising the hacienda have been planted to rice and other food crops.

In some barangays food shortages are becoming a thing of the past especially during this harvest season as collective farms and individual plots yield bountiful harvests.

In barangay Asturias for example, a hectare yields an average of 80 cavans of palay. Vegetables also provide an income of about P150 per day, a far cry when we were paid only P9.50 for a week’s work in the sugar plantation.

But we also have to contend with management loyalist and barangay officials who took advantage of our victories and unjustly used about 420 hectares for their own selfish purposes. We encourage cultivation but we are against the appropriation of large tracts of land for export crops and for purely selfish business intentions.

We also condemn the conspiracy to delay the land distribution to be implemented by the Department of Agrarian Reform, particularly the temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court.

We strongly urge the Department of Agrarian Reform to implement land reform as soon as possible and pave the way for the realization of our aspirations that we have paid our lives with.

Finally, we convey our highest tribute to the seven martyrs of the November 16, 2004 Hacienda Luisita massacre, and all the other martyrs who unselfishly gave up their lives so that our dream for land, jobs and justice may become a reality.

Reference:
RENE GALANG, President
United Luisita Workers’ Union
Hacienda Luisita, Tarlac City
CP No. 0918-572-7102