SC decision on Luisita legalizes theft of farmworkers’ lands – KMU

Labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno condemned today the Supreme Court’s decision on Hacienda Luisita, saying it legalizes the theft of farmworkers’ lands.

In its decision announced yesterday, the SC directed the Department of Agrarian Reform to hold a referendum among the hacienda’s farmworkers, where the latter will be made to choose between owning a parcel of the Luisita lands and owning shares of stock in the Hacienda Luisita Incorporated.

“With its decision on the Luisita land dispute, ‘SC’ now stands for ‘Servants of the Cojuangcos.’ The SC decision essentially affirms the legality of the referendum held last year by the HLI, which was the Cojuangcos’ maneuver to preserve their ownership and control over the Luisita lands,” said Elmer “Bong” Labog.

“Sa referendum, papapiliin ang mga manggagawang bukid ng Luisita sa pagitan ng Demonyo o ni Satanas. (Through the referendum, the farmworkers will be made to choose between the Devil and Satan.) The holding of a referendum by itself is a big win for the Cojuangcos, and no-win for the farmworkers,” he added.

KMU said there is no genuine pro-farmworker choice in the SC’s referendum: choosing ownership of land will mean being given a small parcel of land after a long bureaucratic process and extortion of money from the beneficiaries while choosing stock ownership will mean owning the land in paper only.

“What the farmworkers of Hacienda Luisita have been demanding is the distribution of the more than 6,000 hectares of land which should have been subjected to land reform decades ago. The 2004 strike in the hacienda is a clear rejection of the stock ownership scheme and a clear assertion that the Luisita lands should be under land reform,” Labog said.

“Aside from subjecting farmworkers to the Cojuangcos’ carrot-and-stick tactics to retain control and ownership of the Luisita lands, the referendum does not address, but merely circumvents, the farmworkers’ call for the distribution of the more than 6,000 hectares of the hacienda. The two options in the referendum therefore are both against the interests of the farmworkers,” he added.

“The fact that the Supreme Court still had to rule on the Luisita case is a proof that Pres. Noynoy Aquino, contrary to his promise last elections, has no intention whatsoever to distribute the Luisita lands to their rightful owners, the farmworkers. We have every reason to believe that Noynoy influenced the SC decision. At what cost, we still have to find out,” he said.