Source: The Daily Tribune
President Aquino’s birthday gift from his family’s corporaton, Tadeco, was its security guards, also known as the Aquino-Cojuangco’s yellow army that held the Hacienda Luisita farmers at gunpoint while the rest of armed security personnel destroyed huts, crops and homes of farmers.
Bulatlat.com, reported that on Feb. 8, the day Aquino turned 54, Wilfredo Sibayan was held at gunpoint as security guards of Cojuangco-owned Tarlac Development Corp. (Tadeco) destroyed their hut. Two other farmers — Abelardo Mallari and Edgar Aganon — suffered the same fate.
The hut of farmer Eddie Castro was razed by security guards of Tadeco. That same morning, the hut of Ricky Flores was also dismantled. His son, Rey, 16, attempted to videotape the destruction of their hut through his cellphone’s camera but the guards pointed their guns at him and turned him over to the police. He was subsequently released upon the intervention of Tarlac City Councilor Emmy Ladera-Facunla and representatives of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
On the same night of the president’s birthday, the hut Eddie de Castro was set on fire. Ambala, a Luisita union group reported that the following day, Feb. 9, the farm huts of Renan de la Peña and Conrado Dacanay were also destroyed. The only hut spared in the 260-hectare agricultural land in Balete village is the one owned by Jesus Flores, which has been been occupied by the Tadeco security guards.
The farmers have chosen to remain in the area to look after their remaining crops. They are staying in makeshift tents, according to the fact sheet sent by Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (Uma).
Uma reported that Tadeco employee Villamor Lagunero and Mauro Dela Cruz, head of the Great Star Security Agency, threatened the farmers that they would be arrested if they insist on tending to their crops.
Tadeco claims ownership over at least 461 hectares of land in the villages of Balete, Cutcut and Central. The corporation started bulldozing farmlands and evicting farmers in Balete village in November last year. Last month, Tadeco started putting up fences and security outposts in Cutcut village.
Uma said the area in Balete village is not the private property of the Cojuangco-Aquinos. “It should have been covered earlier by the 2012 SC decision to distribute Hacienda Luisita to farmworkers. It is now covered by a notice of land reform coverage issued by the DAR (Department of Agrarian Reform) Dec.17, 2013,” Uma said.
“The Cojuangcos do not respect even the laws made by their own kind. This useless NoC (notice of coverage) issued by the DAR is under the bogus and anti-peasant Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) enacted by the first Cojuangco-Aquino president, Cory,” Florida said in a statement.
Uma pointed out that the recent incidents of destruction of huts and crops took place even after the local court dismissed the unlawful detainer and ejectment charge against Sibayan and 20 other farmers in Balete village. In a decision dated Jan. 24, 2014, Municipal Trial Court Judge Eleanor de Jesus dismissed the case filed by Tadeco for lack of jurisdiction.
“The tension in Hacienda Luisita is escalating,” Ranmil Echanis, Uma secretary general, said. “If real land distribution is not carried out and if militarization in the area continues, we just might see a situation not unlike the period which led to the tragic Hacienda Luisita massacre of 2004.” the report said.
The militant peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) yesterday assailed what it described as “excessive greed” by Aquino’s relatives for claiming that they were “underpaid” by the government for the more than 4,500 hectares of Hacienda Luisita lands still controlled by the Cojuangcos.
The KMP issued the statement after HLI complained before the Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (Darab) saying that it was “underpaid” and that the amount of P471 million was “certainly inadequate.”
“President Aquino’s relatives’ claim they were underpaid over Hacienda Luisita smacks of excessive greed. In the first place, the Cojuangcos do not deserve a single cent over Hacienda Luisita,” said KMP chairman, former Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano, insisting that they still owe the farmworkers P1.3 billion.
He said that “it is totally revolting that the Cojuangcos still have the gall to claim that they were underpaid when, in fact, Hacienda Luisita remains undistributed.”
“The President and his family have perfected the art of milking cash from the bogus Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program,” the peasant leader said.
Mariano said “the President’s family continues to bastardize the Supreme Court decision and wrest control over Hacienda Luisita despite the P471 million payment by the government over the lands” noting that “bulldozing of lands, destruction of food crops, and fencing activities by Tadeco are ongoing” in more than 400 hectares of land in Barangay Balete and Cut-cut inside Hacienda Luisita.
The KMP leader also assailed as “another shameless maneuver” HLI lawyer Harriet Demetriou that “the underpayment was evident in the fact that the SC recognized the amount of P1.33 billion from the sale of 580.51 hectares of the sugar estate.
“The nerve,” Mariano said, “the P1.3 billion debt by the Cojuangcos to the farmworkers is based on the premise that the land is owned by the farmworkers or the 33.3 percent of HLI and was never based on an imagined formula by the President’s relatives and their lawyers.”
“Obviously, this latest shameless maneuver is designed to cover up the Cojuangcos’ opposition to land distribution and legitimize the ongoing landgrabbing and outright denial of Hacienda Luisita farmworkers’ rights to the lands,” Mariano said.
“Therefore, the P417 million paid by the people for Hacienda Luisita is the biggest deception, fraud, and plunder by Aquino and his relatives,” Mariano stressed.
“It appears that President Aquino gave P417 million of taxpayers’ money to his relatives to be used for the anti-peasant development and land-use conversion of Hacienda Luisita that would lead to the displacement of farmworkers from the lands,” he added.
“The widespread deployment and operation of state security forces and existence of military detachments inside Hacienda Luisita also shows the President and his family’s control over the lands,” the peasant leader said.Charlie V. Manalo
Source: The Daily Tribune
President Aquino’s birthday gift from his family’s corporaton, Tadeco, was its security guards, also known as the Aquino-Cojuangco’s yellow army that held the Hacienda Luisita farmers at gunpoint while the rest of armed security personnel destroyed huts, crops and homes of farmers.
Bulatlat.com, reported that on Feb. 8, the day Aquino turned 54, Wilfredo Sibayan was held at gunpoint as security guards of Cojuangco-owned Tarlac Development Corp. (Tadeco) destroyed their hut. Two other farmers — Abelardo Mallari and Edgar Aganon — suffered the same fate.
The hut of farmer Eddie Castro was razed by security guards of Tadeco. That same morning, the hut of Ricky Flores was also dismantled. His son, Rey, 16, attempted to videotape the destruction of their hut through his cellphone’s camera but the guards pointed their guns at him and turned him over to the police. He was subsequently released upon the intervention of Tarlac City Councilor Emmy Ladera-Facunla and representatives of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
On the same night of the president’s birthday, the hut Eddie de Castro was set on fire. Ambala, a Luisita union group reported that the following day, Feb. 9, the farm huts of Renan de la Peña and Conrado Dacanay were also destroyed. The only hut spared in the 260-hectare agricultural land in Balete village is the one owned by Jesus Flores, which has been been occupied by the Tadeco security guards.
The farmers have chosen to remain in the area to look after their remaining crops. They are staying in makeshift tents, according to the fact sheet sent by Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (Uma).
Uma reported that Tadeco employee Villamor Lagunero and Mauro Dela Cruz, head of the Great Star Security Agency, threatened the farmers that they would be arrested if they insist on tending to their crops.
Tadeco claims ownership over at least 461 hectares of land in the villages of Balete, Cutcut and Central. The corporation started bulldozing farmlands and evicting farmers in Balete village in November last year. Last month, Tadeco started putting up fences and security outposts in Cutcut village.
Uma said the area in Balete village is not the private property of the Cojuangco-Aquinos. “It should have been covered earlier by the 2012 SC decision to distribute Hacienda Luisita to farmworkers. It is now covered by a notice of land reform coverage issued by the DAR (Department of Agrarian Reform) Dec.17, 2013,” Uma said.
“The Cojuangcos do not respect even the laws made by their own kind. This useless NoC (notice of coverage) issued by the DAR is under the bogus and anti-peasant Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) enacted by the first Cojuangco-Aquino president, Cory,” Florida said in a statement.
Uma pointed out that the recent incidents of destruction of huts and crops took place even after the local court dismissed the unlawful detainer and ejectment charge against Sibayan and 20 other farmers in Balete village. In a decision dated Jan. 24, 2014, Municipal Trial Court Judge Eleanor de Jesus dismissed the case filed by Tadeco for lack of jurisdiction.
“The tension in Hacienda Luisita is escalating,” Ranmil Echanis, Uma secretary general, said. “If real land distribution is not carried out and if militarization in the area continues, we just might see a situation not unlike the period which led to the tragic Hacienda Luisita massacre of 2004.” the report said.
The militant peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) yesterday assailed what it described as “excessive greed” by Aquino’s relatives for claiming that they were “underpaid” by the government for the more than 4,500 hectares of Hacienda Luisita lands still controlled by the Cojuangcos.
The KMP issued the statement after HLI complained before the Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (Darab) saying that it was “underpaid” and that the amount of P471 million was “certainly inadequate.”
“President Aquino’s relatives’ claim they were underpaid over Hacienda Luisita smacks of excessive greed. In the first place, the Cojuangcos do not deserve a single cent over Hacienda Luisita,” said KMP chairman, former Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano, insisting that they still owe the farmworkers P1.3 billion.
“President Aquino’s relatives’ claim they were underpaid over Hacienda Luisita smacks of excessive greed. In the first place, the Cojuangcos do not deserve a single cent over Hacienda Luisita,” said KMP chairman, former Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano, insisting that they still owe the farmworkers P1.3 billion.
He said that “it is totally revolting that the Cojuangcos still have the gall to claim that they were underpaid when, in fact, Hacienda Luisita remains undistributed.”
“The President and his family have perfected the art of milking cash from the bogus Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program,” the peasant leader said.
Mariano said “the President’s family continues to bastardize the Supreme Court decision and wrest control over Hacienda Luisita despite the P471 million payment by the government over the lands” noting that “bulldozing of lands, destruction of food crops, and fencing activities by Tadeco are ongoing” in more than 400 hectares of land in Barangay Balete and Cut-cut inside Hacienda Luisita.
The KMP leader also assailed as “another shameless maneuver” HLI lawyer Harriet Demetriou that “the underpayment was evident in the fact that the SC recognized the amount of P1.33 billion from the sale of 580.51 hectares of the sugar estate.
“The nerve,” Mariano said, “the P1.3 billion debt by the Cojuangcos to the farmworkers is based on the premise that the land is owned by the farmworkers or the 33.3 percent of HLI and was never based on an imagined formula by the President’s relatives and their lawyers.”
“Obviously, this latest shameless maneuver is designed to cover up the Cojuangcos’ opposition to land distribution and legitimize the ongoing landgrabbing and outright denial of Hacienda Luisita farmworkers’ rights to the lands,” Mariano said.
“Therefore, the P417 million paid by the people for Hacienda Luisita is the biggest deception, fraud, and plunder by Aquino and his relatives,” Mariano stressed.
“It appears that President Aquino gave P417 million of taxpayers’ money to his relatives to be used for the anti-peasant development and land-use conversion of Hacienda Luisita that would lead to the displacement of farmworkers from the lands,” he added.
“The widespread deployment and operation of state security forces and existence of military detachments inside Hacienda Luisita also shows the President and his family’s control over the lands,” the peasant leader said.Charlie V. Manalo
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