Three days before deadline to farmers; Workers reiterate call to Noynoy: Act now on Luisita

Labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno today reiterated its call to presidentiable Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to oppose the impending eviction of farmers from Hacienda Luisita, the expansive 6,000-hectare farmland owned by his family.

Last December 2008, Hacienda Luisita Incorporated (HLI) issued a memorandum to farmers tilling the 2,000-hectare portion of the hacienda to vacate the land by October 30 this year. With the government’s cancellation of the HLI’s Stock Distribution Option (SDO) last 2005, the hacienda’s farmers and farm workers insist that the land now belongs to them. 

“Three days to go and we have yet to hear a statement from Noynoy. This, despite the fact that he is all over the place, busily campaigning for his presidential bid,” said Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU chairperson.

Labog recalled that Sen. Aquino said he and his siblings will sell their share of the hacienda after KMU and other progressive organizations challenged him to act on the issue. “We said we weren’t happy with his promise, because it is vague and sounds more like a business move than a compassionate gesture for social justice. We haven’t heard him speak on the issue since,” he said.

“The lives and livelihood of more than 500 families are at stake, and he can do something about the situation,” he added. “We are demanding not just the suspension of the deadline, but for the Cojuangco and Aquino families to stop pursuing their claim to the land and let the tillers own the land.”

Labog also challenged Sen. Aquino to make real his promises of change on this issue. “Genuine land reform is the change Filipinos need. Noynoy, like all presidentiables, is promising change. Here’s a modest change that we believe he can work on,” he said.

Labog clarified the basis of KMU’s demands. “The farmers and farmworkers have worked long enough in the land to earn the right to own it. The fake agrarian reform program of the Aquino regime failed to grant the land to them, stopped in the tracks by the anti-farmer SDO scheme. Their ownership of the land is long overdue,” he said.

Recalling the 2004 massacre of striking farmers and farmworkers in the hacienda, which resulted in the death of 14 people, Labog expressed fears as to the steps the HLI may take to enforce the deadline. “We know just how much violence the HLI is capable of unleashing against farmers and farmworkers. What will happen if they refuse to leave, and wage a militant struggle against the eviction?,” Labog said.

“The time for Noynoy to act is now,” said Labog. “He wouldn’t want this issue to hound him throughout his campaign.” #