Noynoy: Clarify stand, side with farmers

While we are glad that Sen. Noynoy has finally spoken on the issue of Hacienda Luisita, we are worried that the course of action that he is thinking of is different, even far, from what we are asking him to do, that it won’t actually benefit the Luisita farmers.

We hope Sen. Noynoy takes a second hard look at our challenge. We are asking him to side with the farmers in the land ownership dispute – in the immediate, with the 500 families who are threatened by the HLI with eviction this coming October 30.

Sen. Noynoy says he is giving up the ownership of his part of the land. To whom? To the farmers or to other members of the Cojuangco family? We are asking him to push the Cojuangcos to drop their claim in court to own the land in favor of the farmers.

We hope Sen. Noynoy intervenes in the issue to uphold the rights of the farmers. We hope he doesn’t only give up ownership of his part of the land, but urges other family members to do the same – and not to other members of the family but to the farmers.

Otherwise, his action on the issue will be construed as a mere propaganda gimmick that does not actually benefit farmers, and is merely aimed at evading the criticisms of farmers and pro-farmer groups in the country. We hope he rises up to this challenge.  ###