Noynoy cannot wash his hands clean of Luisita – KMU

Labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno lambasted today Malacañang’s effort to distance itself from the Supreme Court ruling on Hacienda Luisita, saying Pres. Aquino cannot possibly wash his hands clean of the issue because, for one, he made a promise to distribute the Luisita lands to farmers by 2014.

Responding to calls for the president to distribute the hacienda’s lands to farmers, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the president has already divested himself of his shares in the hacienda and that the SC decision should be observed.

“Pres. Aquino’s efforts to distance himself from the SC decision on Luisita is insulting to the intelligence of the Filipino workers and people. His promise last elections to distribute the Luisita lands to farmers by 2014 is still fresh in our minds,” said Lito Ustarez, KMU vice-chairperson.

“For many people, the fact that the SC made a decision favorable to the Cojuangcos under a president who’s a Cojuangco is cause enough to think that the president influenced the decision. The Palace’s effort to distance itself from the SC decision simply won’t work,” he added.

“He should not be so arrogant as to think that he can get away from the issue of Hacienda Luisita. Even Cory Aquino was not able to do that,” he said.

KMU held a picket today in front of the Supreme Court office in Manila to condemn the high court’s decision to hold another referendum among the farmworkers of Hacienda Luisita.

“Every reasonable basis in this issue points to the immediate and free distribution of the Luisita lands to the farmworkers: the loan from the government that was used to buy the land, the agreement on the conditions for the loan, the decades of work that the farmworkers put on the soil. Holding another referendum in Luisita is but another tactic of the Cojuangcos to keep their ownership and control over the hacienda,” Ustarez said.

“The Cojuangcos, with the help of the Supreme Court and of course the Cojuangco president, are just trying to make it appear that farmworkers are consenting to their continued ownership of Luisita despite numerous indications that point to the contrary. They had to massacre the striking farmworkers in 2004 only to silence their demand for the free and immediate distribution of land,” he added.

“The SC decision on Luisita is sure to cause a further decline in the workers’ and people’s trust for this government institution which allowed itself to be bastardized by Gloria and is now allowing itself to be bastardized by Noynoy,” he added.