It’s all or nothing.

Labor union officials claiming to represent farmers in Hacienda Luisita Thursday rejected any arrangement that would give them only a third of the sugar plantation owned by the family of President Benigno Aquino III.

“We want all the 4,915 hectares that the [Department of Agrarian Reform] ordered to be covered by the [Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program] in 2006,” said Lito Bais, acting president of United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU).

Bais was reacting to a Philippine Daily Inquirer report that Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) had worked out a settlement with representatives of four unions in the plantation under which workers would be given a choice of retaining shares under the stock distribution option (SDO) or a parcel of the 1,400 hectares of land that would be put up for distribution.

Bais said “no negotiation” was taking place between ULWU and members of the Cojuangco family, Mr. Aquino’s relatives by his mother, the late former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino.

“They (Cojuangcos) delayed the case in the Supreme Court. Now they came out with this deceitful agreement to postpone the case again. We won’t enter into any agreement with the management,” said Bais. “We want the 4,915 hectares… nothing else.”

He said that ULWU had also demanded that shares from enterprises in the industrial portions of the Hacienda be given to farm workers. Shares from toll at the Luisita gate of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) are among those sought by ULWU, he said.

‘Stop false promises’

Another group of farmers, called the FARM Luisita, scored the HLI for retaining the SDO.

“If they truly want to give justice to us farm workers and end poverty and hunger in the estate, HLI should give the lands away and the government should give us support services,” said Renato Lalic, the group’s spokesperson. “HLI should stop fooling and feeding us false promises.”

Lalic said his group had not been called to discuss the deal. “Those who were called in the meetings were their former supervisors and regular employees,” he said.

In a letter to Chief Justice Renato Corona dated Aug. 3, the Luisita farmer-beneficiaries asked the high tribunal to proceed with the scheduled oral arguments on Aug. 18 on a long-pending case to “pave the way for the urgent, unconditional and free distribution” of Hacienda Luisita.

Jobert Ilarde Pahilga, a lawyer for the 6,000-strong Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Hacienda Luisita (Ambala) which had petitioned the DAR to revoke the SDO arrangement, denied any negotiation with HLI.

Justice for massacre victims

Pahilga said it should be ascertained whether those involved in the negotiations with HLI were really representatives of the farmers.

“There is also the issue of justice to the victims of the Hacienda Luisita massacre and of the extrajudicial killings that happened thereafter that should be considered” in the settlement of the contentious issues surrounding the hacienda land dispute, said Pahilga.

Pahilga said that in July, efforts were made to broker a compromise agreement for submission to the Supreme Court. He said that religious sectors were called to mediate and arrange a meeting with the President.

“But the terms and conditions of the compromise agreement are yet to be agreed upon. Thus, we were surprised that news broke out that there was already such a deal,” said Pahilga.

‘Grandmother of all lies’

A joint statement Thursday by Edna Velarde of the Unyon ng Mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura, which includes ULWU and Ambala, and Danilo Ramos of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said:

“This breakthrough settlement is the grandmother of all lies and deceptions. It is by itself a major act of plunder, corruption and betrayal of collective peasant land rights and public interest rolled into one…

“President Aquino and the feudal aristocracy of Luisita merely talked to their own shadows and entertained a certain Al Capone when they orchestrated this biggest Mafia crime of the century. There was no deal between the Luisita farm workers and the Cojuangco-Aquino slave holding corporation. There was no judicial compromise agreement or whatever political animal the Cojuangcos wish to call it or describe.”

Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano also assailed the Cojuangco-Aquino family for what he branded as a “latest maneuver to deny the farm workers’ right to own the lands.”

“This confirms that the Cojuangco-Aquino (family) will never let go of the stock distribution option scheme and reminds us of the bogus referendum in 1989,” said Mariano, recalling that the farmers “voted under duress when the referendum on the stock distribution option was offered in 1989.”

News Source: Inquirer; Photo Credit: Pinoy Idea

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Snow is the author behind Dear Bloggery. Married to a college schoolmate with one cute kid, Snow is balancing time with family and work to ensure sanity.