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A Short History of Hacienda Luisita
The story of Hacienda Luisita is inextricably tied to the overall story of
the modern Philippines. In the time since its inception in the late
19th Century all of the main players in the development, or lack thereof,
of the Philippines as a nation have played there part in the saga
whether directly or vicariously. Every aspect of the history of
ownership of Hacienda Luisita since it came into being in 1882 seems
incredible when viewed through modern, western eyes, and the fact
that the tenure of ownership is still not resolved to this day, I believe,
gives a greater insight into the Philippines, its institutions, and the
psyche of the Filipino people, than any other issue.
The Central Azcurera De Tarlac sugar refinery. Site of the 2004 massacre.
Picture by James Catlin
It all began with the“Tabacalera”
In 1882, Don Antonio Lopez Y Lopez, the most successful and influential Spanish
businessman of the 19th Century, acquired more than 12,000 hectares of prime
agricultural land in Tarlac, Central Luzon, on behalf of his newly formed
company, the Compania General de Tobacos de Filipinas, known as the
“Tabacalera”. This acquisition was achieved by means of a Royal Grant from the
Spanish Crown, which held a self appointed claim to the lands of the Philippines
as colonial overlords. He named the property Hacienda Luisita, after his wife,
Luisa Bru Y Lassus.
Don Antonio was an extraordinary character in himself. Born in the small town of
Comillas, on the North Coast of Spain, and losing his father at the age of 2,
Lopez was sent to work with relatives in Andalusia at 10 years of age, to help
support his family. Lopez migrated to Cuba at the age of 14, where he spent the
next twenty years, initially building a trading business, dealing in flour, and
other basic commodities, which he converted into a shipping company, which
would eventually become known as the “Compania Transatlantica Espanola”.
Lopez attracted great favor from the Spanish Crown, and considerable profit for
his company, with the transfer of troops to and from Spain’s colonial
insurrections in Africa in 1859 and the ten year war in Cuba from 1861 by steam
ship. His company held the contract for the shipping of Spain’s Colonial
correspondence, as well as being a major shipper of commodities, including
slaves, between Spain and her colonies.
By the time of his installation as the 1st Marquis of Comillas, a Royal Thiefdom ,
created for him by a grateful King, in 1878, Don Antonio had expanded his
empire into Banking, mining, and rail infrastructure in Spain. As well as
substantial tobacco and sugar estates in the Caribbean. Lopez was considered a
close friend and adviser to King Alfonso the XII of Spain, as well as being a well
known associate of Spain’s first Prime Minister of foreign blood, the
Spanish/Filipino Don Marcelo Azcarraga y Palmero.
The American Occupation
(1899 – 1946)
The United States entered The Philippines in 1899, in the guise of supporting the
existing Philippine War of Independence against the Spanish, initially as part of
the tail end of the Spanish American War. After negotiating terms with the
Spanish (who at the time were on the brink of defeat by the forces of the First
Philippine Republic, who had encircled the last of the Spanish forces in their
walled Capital of Manila). The United States reneged on a deal with the
President of the First Republic Emilio Aguinaldo, and annexed the Philippines as
an extension of the spoils of the Spanish American War. An action which led to
war with the Philippines. Which, as far as Central Luzon was concerned lasted
until 1901 (in other areas of The Philippines, most notably the Moro areas of
Western Mindanao, armed resistance to the Americans continued as late as
1913).
From the very beginning the United States represented the annexation of the
Philippines
Painting of a scene from the Battle of Manila, February 4th,1899. Artist unstated, picture from the
public domain.
as a period of tutelage towards self rule. President McKinley initiated two
commissions to report to congress on the issue, the Schumman Commission, in
1898, delivered in 1900, and the Taft Commission which included some
executive powers in the Philippines in 1900, delivered in 1902. It was the
assertion of these Commissions that if handed independence at that point the
leadership of the Islands would rapidly fall into anarchy. With the Taft
commission further stating that the plan put forward by Aguinaldo for the rule of
the Oligarchy is unsuitable and undemocratic.
Although it was not apparent at the time, the seeds of post independence
Hacienda Luisita were sewn in this period, with the great wealth of the
Cojuangco family appearing miraculously between 1899 and 1901. The
Cojuangcos settled in Paniqui, Tarlac, in March 1896. The patriarch of the clan,
the Chinese immigrant Jose Cojuangco (Chinese name Koh Giok Kuan), a builder
who had obtained a reputation for the quality of his work, most notably for the
Church in Balacan.
General Antonio Luna
It is said that the source of the Cojuangcos wealth came via General Antonio
Luna, the Supreme Chief of the Army of the First Republic of the Philippines.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that Luna had the funds of the revolution collected
from repositories in Illocos and Pampanga, sent to the home of his girlfriend,
Ysidra Cojuangco, in Paniqui, Tarlac, for safe keeping from the advancing
American Forces. The last of these shipments arriving from Pampanga 3 days
before Luna’s assassination at the hands of troops loyal to Aguinaldo, the
President of the First Republic, in June 1899. After Luna’s death the Cojuangcos
are believed to have hidden the treasure in a well on the property. The funds
were never recovered and it is suggested that the Cojuangcos simply kept the
money, using it as capital to build there extensive empire in the years
immediately following the conflict.
The Cojuangcos themselves have maintained that their rapid accumulation of
wealth in this period was due to frugality and good business sense in rice
marketing and money lending activities. They maintain that they were aided by
free rail transport to Manila markets from their rice mill in Paniqui (the
commercial rate at this time being P 2.50 per sack), as a gift from General
Arthur Macarthur, whom they assisted with accommodation and storage space
during the American advance. However given that in this period rice production
in Tarlac was hampered not only by war, but also by severe floods and locust
plagues it is difficult to see how this competitive advantage could translate to a
building family who invested in a 2 hectare property and small rice mill in 1896,
to owning 2,000 hectares along the rail line by 1901. A holding which increased
to more than 12,000 Hectares, spread across Central Luzon by the 1920′s.
Regardless of the source, by the official end of hostilities in the region in 1901,
Ysidra Cojuangco, the spinster aunt of Jose “Pepe” Cojuangco, his 3 brothers,
Juan, Antonio and Eduardo, and matriarch of the clan, was considered the
richest woman in the Philippines.
Under American occupation contrary to what might have been expected, the
Spanish owned Hacienda Luisita flourished. This was largely due to the
American obsession with sugar. The Tabcalera, abandoned tobacco production
on the estate in the 1920′s to cater for the growing sugar quota’s from the US.
In 1927 they constructed the sugar refinery the “Central Azcurarera de Tarlac”
(CAT), incorporating centrifugal machinery from the US to effectively double
production and negate their need to ship the sugar to refineries in Laguna,
owned by the Roxas family. At one point prior to the outbreak of World War II,
Hacienda Luisita was supplying 20% of the sugar consumed in the United
States.
The Japanese Occupation
During the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines (1941 – 1945), sugar
production continued at Hacienda Luisita. The Japanese policy was to ensure
that supplies of commodities such as sugar were not interrupted, in an attempt
to avoid insurgencies. The continuation of production served both Spanish and
Japanese interests at the time.
Macarthur’s Headquarters
During the liberation of the Philippines from Japanese occupation, General
Douglas
General Douglas Macarthur, landing on Leyte in 1944. The first step in the liberation of the
Philippines from the Japanese.
“Dugout Doug” Macarthur, set up his advanced headquarters at Hacienda
Luisita on the 25th of January 1945. Macarthur was a childhood friend of Pepe
Cojuangco.
The famous, official publicity photograph on the right shows Macarthur stepping
ashore on Leyte in company with the President of the Commonwealth in exile,
Sergio Osmena (far left in pith helmet) .
The Cojuangco Purchase
In the early 1950′s, the Spanish owners of the Tabacalera, decided to sell
Hacienda Luisita and the CAT, due to concerns over Hukbalahap (communist)
insurgencies in the area.
The wealthy Lopez family of Iloilo moved to purchase the CAT, but this purchase
was vetoed by President Ramon Magsaysay, reportedly due to concerns the
Lopez clan, who already owned Meralco, Negros Navigation,The Manila
Chronicle, ABS-CBN, substantial agricultural holdings in the Western Visaya’s
and the nearby PASUMIL consortium in Pampanga which they had purchased
from the Americans,would become too powerful.
Jose “Don Pepe” Cojuangco
Instead he brokered a deal with his political prodigy Benigno “Ninoy” S Aquino
Jr, for whom Magsaysay had acted as Ninong (primary sponsor) of his wedding
to Corozon Cojuangco, to offer the property exclusively to Ninoy’s father-in-law
Jose “Don Pepe” Cojuangco Sr. The Cojungcos at the time were already the
largest land owners in Central Luzon, but while wealthy in Peso and bank
holdings, had no substantial holdings in US dollars.
After Magsaysay’s death, in a plane crash in Cebu on March 17th 1957, the sale
continued under the Presidency of Carlos Garcia, a strong supporter of then
Senator Ferdinand Marcos. In August 1957 the Philippine Government facilitated
the purchase of the CAT by providing Central Bank (CB) support to the
Cojuangcos to obtain a Dollar loan from the Manufacturers Trust Company of
New York (MTC). This support required the CB to deposit a substantial amount of
the Nations Dollar reserve with the MTC.
The CB extended this support on the condition that the Cojuangcos also
purchase the by then 6,453 hectare Hacienda Luisita with the CAT, with a view
to distributing the land to small farmers within a 10 year period of the purchase
under “reasonable terms”.
On the 27th of August, 1957, the Central Bank Monetary Board issued
Resolution No. 1240, approving the loan for the purchase of shares in the CAT,
adding the clause that, “There shall be a simultaneous purchase of Hacienda
Luisita with the purchase of the shares, with a view to distributing this hacienda
to small farmers in line with the Administration’s Social Justice program.”
The Government also organized a loan from the Government Service Insurance
System (GSIS), for the purchase of the Hacienda. On November 27th, 1957, the
GSIS approved a loan of P 5.9 million through Resolution No. 3202. The GSIS
loan was approved after Don Pepe informed them in a letter that the
Cojuangcos’ acquisition of the Hacienda would “pave the way for the sale to
bona fide planters on a long term basis, portions of the Hacienda.” On the
condition that Hacienda Luisita be “subdivided among the tenants who shall pay
the cost thereof under reasonable terms and conditions.”
Four months later, Don Pepe Cojuangco made a successful application to the
GSIS to change the phrase to “…shall be sold at cost to tenants, should there be
any.” This phrase would be cited later on as justification not to distribute the
Hacienda’s land.
Ninoy Aquino
So on April the 8th 1958 Don Pepe Cojuangco’s company, the Tarlac
Development Corporation (TADECO), became the new owner of Hacienda Luisita
and Central Azucarera de Tarlac. Don Pepe immediately installed Ninoy Aquino
as Administrator of the Hacienda.
The purchase of Hacienda Luisita and the CAT was the largest investment ever
made. The Cojuangcos Lawyer in the purchase of Hacienda Luisita was Juan
Ponce Enrile. the leader of the 1986 “People Power Revolution” and current
President of the Philippine Senate.
The Great Social Experiment
On taking over Don Pepe and Ninoy immediately installed a near welfare state
at Hacienda Luisita. The initiatives implemented included, free medical care and
medicines, scholarships to college, free education, free food and equitable
shares of the harvest to farmers, free childcare, free burials, a village earmarked
for the farmers and free fuel for tractors.
Although Don Pepe made losses, he was able to support his social reform
program through his other profitable investments in the Bank of Commerce and
First Manila Management, which he owned, and his holdings in Pantranco buses
and the Mantrade Group.
During the period of Don Pepe and Ninoy’s Administration of the Hacienda there
was great optimism among the residents. Not a single strike was instigated in
this period by the farm or refinery workers, nor indeed by the workers at the
nearby Paniqui Sugar Mills, which were managed by Don Pepe on behalf of his
aunt, the Cojuangco Matriarch Ysidra. To this day the majority of older residents
maintain a deep and genuine affection for the two men.
The Marcos era
Ferdinand Marcos
In 1965 Ferdinand Marcos defeated the incumbent Diosdado Macapagal in what
is often described as the most corrupted election in Philippine History. Marcos
set out on a campaign against the established Oligarchy of the Philippines of
which the Cojuangcos were a member. His most vocal critic and effective leader
of the opposition was now Senator Ninoy Aquino.
The 10-year window given by the Philippine Government for the Cojuangcos to
distribute the land elapsed in 1967 with no land distribution taking place. During
this time, farmers began to organize into groups to push for land distribution.
The Cojuangcos, however, insisted that there were no tenants on the Hacienda,
hence no need to distribute land.
In 1969 a “family feud” led to Don Pepe selling his 28% share in the Bank of
Commerce, to the other 3 strands of the Cojuangco family. It is believed that
this split occurred due to the unwillingness of the representatives of the other
strands of the family led by Juan “Itoy”, Don Pepe’s brother, Ramon, the son of
Antonio Sr, who was killed by the Japanese in 1945, and the then Congressman
in Marcos’ Nationalista Party, Danding, son of Eduardo, who died of kidney
failure when the family were unable to convert there Peso holdings into Dollars
to obtain medical treatment in the United States, to allow Don Pepe’s eldest son
Pedro to take over as president of the Bank. Although this sale was on amicable
terms it removed one of the 3 props that Don Pepe held to mitigate the loses
generated by the Hacienda
Marcos declared Martial Law on the 21st of September 1972. Not withstanding
that the primary reason given for the declaration was concerns over Communist
insurgency in lite of a series of events, most notably the Plaza Miranda Bombing
in Manila in August 1971, which the Communist Party claimed responsibility for.
However despite the fact that the Plaza Miranda incident was a direct attack on
the Liberal Party, Liberal Senator Ninoy Aquino was among the first to be
arrested and imprisoned under the new powers.
Added to this Don Pepe was unable to upgrade the machinery in the aging CAT.
The Marcos administration had refused his application to increase fares on his
Pantranco buses to compensate for rising costs, despite allowing other
companies to do so. Marcos critics believed that this was an attempt to coerce
Don Pepe into apply pressure on his son in law Ninoy to refrain from making
disparaging remarks about the President and First Lady Imelda Marcos (who
Ninoy had labeled the new Eva Peron).
In 1974 Don Pepe’s business empire suffered a further blow with the death of
his close friend and business partner Manuel Lopa. Lopa had maintained a close
relationship withSpeaker of the House of Representatives, Daniel Romualdez,
Imelda’s uncle. Ambassador Benjamin Romualdez, the brother of Imelda, then
coerced Pepe and his son-in-law, Ricardo“Baby” Lopa (Manuel’s son) into selling
the collection of 38 companies under First Manila Management to him. Baby and
his wife Teresita Cojuangco, together with Pepe and the rest of the Lopa heirs,
had no choice but to sell. The second of Don Pepe’s 3 props for the Hacienda
disappeared with this extortion.
Finally in early 1976 Don Pepe sold off his final prop, The First United Bank,
which he had built up on his own after his ousting from the family owned Bank
of Commerce to his nephew Danding for an “amicable sum.” With all of his
external lifelines gone Don Pepe was left with little more than a half
rehabilitated and barely earning white elephant.
Don Pepe Cojuangco died, reportedly a broken and disillusioned man, on the
21st of August, 1976, while Ninoy Aquino was still in custody. His funeral was
attended by thousands of Hacienda Luisita residents.
The Government had sent only three letters to the Cojuangcos from the 1960s
to the 1970s to follow up the issue of land distribution.During 1977 the
Government reviewed the Cojuangcos compliance with the land distribution
condition contained in the loan agreements.
On the 22nd of June, 1978, Demetira Cojuangco, the widow of Don Pepe, wrote
to
Demitera Cojuangco
Ernesto Valdez, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Agrarian Reform. In this
letter she said that it was “extremely unwarranted to make us account for the
fulfillment of a condition that cannot be enforced”, furthermore that “there are
no tenants in Hacienda Luisita”, adding that “the Central Bank resolution does
not indicate small farmers” and that “the Hacienda is outside the scope of any
land reform program of the Government” and that “there is no agrarian unrest
in Hacienda Luisita.”
The Marcos Government filed case No.13164, against Jose Cojuangco Sr and his
heirs, before the Manila Regional Trial Court (MRTC) on the 7th of May 1980, to
force the Cojuangco-owned TADECO into surrendering Hacienda Luisita to the
Ministry of Agrarian Reform so that the land could be distributed to the farmers
at cost. The case was filed as Ninoy Aquino and his family were leaving for exile
in the US.
The Cojuangcos responded to the government complaint by on the 10th of
January 1981, arguing that the land could not be distributed because the
Hacienda did not have tenants. They also argued that sugar lands were not
covered by existing agrarian reform legislation. Anti-Marcos groups claimed that
the government’s case was an act of harassment against Ninoy Aquino’s family.
After living in exile for 3 years in Boston, Massachusetts, Ninoy Aquino returned
to Manila. He was assassinated on the tarmac of the Manila International Airport,
now named in his honor, upon arrival on the 21st of August, 1983.
The MRTC ordered TADECO to surrender Hacienda Luisita to the Ministry of
Agrarian Reform, to redistribute the land to small farmers, and that the
landowners, TADECO, be compensated P 3.988 million, on the 2nd of December
1985. The Cojuangcos decried this as an act of harassment because Cory
Cojuangco Aquino was set to run against Marcos in the February 1986 snap
elections. The family later elevated the matter to the Court of Appeals.
On December 3, 1985, the day after the MRTC ruling, Cory Aquino, widow of
Ninoy and daughter of Don Pepe, officially filed her certificate of candidacy for
President. Land reform was among the pillars of her campaign. She promised to
give “land to the tiller” and to subject Hacienda Luisita to land reform.
The Presidency of Corazon Cojuangco Aquino
Cory Aquino
The February the 7th, 1986 snap election was marred by allegations of
widespread fraud against Marcos. The anti-Marcos sentiments led to the “People
Power Revolution,” a series of nonviolent mass street demonstrations,
culminating in the withdrawal of US backing for the Marcos regime, and finally,
the seizure of the Malacanang Palace by a group led by the then Defense
Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and General Fidel Ramos, Marcos’ cousin. Marcos and
his senior cronies, including Danding Cojuangco, fled the country to take refuge
in the United States, and the “millionaire housewife”, Corazon Cojuangco
Aquino, who had been on retreat, meditating with the Carmelite Sisters in Cebu
during the revolution, was elevated to the Presidency. thus bringing a return to
power for the more traditional Oligarchy of the Philippines.
The initial phase of the Cory Aquino Presidency was dominated by actions to
sure up power, centered around the institution of a much criticized new
constitution, which extended greater protections to the landed Oligarchs. With
no sign of the promised agrarian reform on the horizon, labour groups became
more and more frustrated and eleven months into the Cory Aquino presidency,
on the 22nd of January, 1987, thousands of frustrated farmers marched to
Malacañang demanding land reform and the distribution of land at no cost to
beneficiaries. In a violent dispersal, 13 protesters were killed in what has gone
down in history as the “Mendiola Massacre.” An event cited today by the left as
the beginning of “Cory Aquino’s reign of blood”, and the first of scores of
massacres and dispersals perpetrated on the Philippine people by the forces of
her regime.
Eventually on the 22nd of July, 1987, Cory issued Presidential Proclamation 131
and Executive Order No. 229 outlining her agrarian reform program, which
unlike previous social justice programs, covered sugar and coconut lands. The
outline also included a provision for the Stock Distribution Option (SDO), a mode
of complying with the land reform law that did not require actual transfer of the
land to the tiller.
Then on March the 17th, 1988, the Government withdrew its case against the
Cojuangcos. Cory’s appointee, Solicitor General Frank Chavez, filed a motion for
the Court of Appeals to dismiss the civil case the Marcos government filed and
won at the Manila Regional Trial Court against the Cojuangcos. The Department
of Agrarian Reform and the GSIS, then headed by Aquino appointees Philip Juico
and Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte, respectively, did not object to the motion to
dismiss the case. Added to this the Central Bank did not object to dismissal of
case as it assumed that Luisita would be distributed anyway through the
upcoming Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
The Court of Appeals dismissed the case filed by the Marcos government against
the Cojuangco-owned TADECO on May 18th, 1988. The Government itself, under
Cory, moved to withdraw the finding that compelled TADECO to distribute land.
With this the Cojuangcos seemed to have achieved unencumbered sovereignty
over Hacienda Luisita.
With the prior rulings safely negated President Aquino finally signed into law
Republic Act No. 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, on the 10th
of June 1988. A clause in the agrarian reform program included SDO, which
allows landowners to give farmers shares of stock in a corporation instead of
land.
On the 23rd of August 1988 TADECO established Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) to
implement the distribution of stocks to farmers in the Hacienda. The Cojuangcos
justified Luisita’s SDO by saying it was impractical to divide the Hacienda’s
4,915.75 hectares of land among 6,296 farm workers because this would give
farmers less than one hectare of land each (or 0.78 hectares of land per person),
not near enough land to support a family.
From the beginning of 1989 the real crisis began on Hacienda Luisita. Lack of
work and a population that had swollen well above what the property could
support led to abject poverty. The farm and refinery workers on the Hacienda
were reliant on the “charity” of the Cojuangcos for their very survival.
On May the 9th,1989, the Hacienda’s farm workers were asked to choose
between stocks or land in a referendum. The SDO won 92.9% of the vote. A
second referendum and information campaign were held five months later and
the SDO won again, getting 96.75% of the vote.
Father Joaquin Bernas, a 1987 Constitutional Commission member, said in his
June 27, 1989, column in The Manila Chronicle, that Luisita’s SDO is inconsistent
with the Constitution. “The [SDO] is a loophole because it does not support the
Constitution’s desire that the right of farmers to become owners of the land they
till should be promoted by government.”
When the CARP was implemented in Hacienda Luisita on the 11th of May, 1989,
the farm workers’ownership of the plantation was pegged at 33 percent, while
the Cojuangcos retained 67 percent. The SDO agreement spelled out a 30-year
schedule for transferring the stocks to the farm workers:
“At the end of each fiscal year, for a period of 30 years, the SECOND PARTY
(HLI) shall arrange with the FIRST PARTY (TADECO) the acquisition and
distribution to the THIRD PARTY (farm workers) on the basis of number of days
worked and at no cost to them of one-thirtieth (1/30) of 118,391,976.85 shares
of the capital stock of the SECOND PARTY (HLI) that are presently owned and
held by the FIRST PARTY (TADECO), until such time as the entire block of
118,391,976.85 shares shall have been completely acquired and distributed to
the THIRD PARTY (farm workers).”
On the 21st of November,1989, the Agrarian Reform Secretary Miriam Defensor-
Santiago
Miriam Defensor Santiago
approved the SDO agreement of Hacienda Luisita. However, Santiago’s tenure
at the DAR only lasted two months. In 2005, Santiago, by then a senator,
alleged Cory Aquino removed her from the position because of a comment she
made to the media, that Cory should inhibit herself from being the chairperson
of the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC), which approves SDO
agreements.
The presidency of Cory Aquino came to an end on the 30th of June 1992, and
she was replaced by Fidel Ramos, who had essentially been her protector during
the various coup attempts that punctuated her term. She left the entire region
of Central Luzon in complete disarray, with thousands still starving in the
aftermath of the cataclysmic eruption of Mt Pinatubo a year earlier, and the
closure of the United States military bases, Clark air base in Pampanga and the
Subic Bay naval facility in Zambeles.
The reclassification of the land.
It was also in 1992 that Pedro Cojuangco, Don Pepe’s eldest son and
administrator of the Hacienda, with tenure secured by the stock distribution
option, attempted to bring Luisita up to a point of profit. He initially attempted a
variety of austerity measures, all to little avail, as a sugar producing entity the
Hacienda and the CAT would fail to record a profit until 2009, and then only due
to the temporary unreliability of the Brazilian sugar market.
It was apparent that diversification may be the key to the survival of Hacienda
Luisita and on the 1st of September, 1995, the Sangguniang Bayan of Tarlac
(Provincial Board of Tarlac), under the leadership of the Governor of Tarlac
Province, Margarita “Tingting” Cojuangco, the wife of Jose “Peping” Cojuangco
Jr., passed a resolution that reclassified 3,290 out of Hacienda Luisita’s viable
4,915 hectares, from agricultural to commercial, industrial, and residential land.
The Department of Agrarian Reform approved for conversion 500 hectares of
the Luisita land on the 14th of August 1996.
The Hacienda Luisita Massacre
By 2003, with another member of the Central Luzon Oligarchy, Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo, installed in Malacanang Palace, the farm workers’daily wage flattened at
P194.50 and work days were down to one per week. The Hacienda workers then
filed a petition with the DAR to have the SDO agreement revoked.
On the 14th of October, 2003, workers from the HLI supervisory group
petitioned the DAR to revoke the SDO, saying they were not receiving the
dividends and other benefits earlier promised to them. Two months later, a
petition to revoke the SDO bearing more than 5,300 signatures was filed by
union officers at the DAR to revoke the SDO and stop land conversion in
Hacienda Luisita.
Throughout the month of July 2004, the union tried to negotiate a wage increase
to P225 per day. Workers also asked that the work days be increased to 2-3
days per week, instead of just once a week. The management disagreed,
claiming that the company was losing money, and that any increases would be
impossible.
Then on the 1st of October, HLI management retrenched 327 farm workers,
including union officers. This action resulted in almost all 5,000 members of the
United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU) and 700 members of Central Azucarera de
Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU), who’s wage negotiations had stagnated at the time,
staging a protest against the mass retrenchment, on the 6th of November 2004.
The ULWU strikers formed a picket at the main No1 Gate of the CAT, while the
contingent from the CATLU picketed Gate No. 2.
On November 10, 2004, four days after the strike started, the Department of
Labor and Employment (DOLE) declared an Assumption of Jurisdiction. Labor
Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas announced that quelling the strike was a matter of
national interest because Luisita was one of the Country’s major sugar
producers. The Assumption of Jurisdiction legally cleared the way to use
government troops to stop the strike. The picketers were ordered to vacate
within five days, or else be removed by force. The Unionists claimed that this
decision was due to the Cojuangco’s direct influence within the Malacanang
Palace, President Arroyo had initially entered political life in 1987 on the
invitation of Cory Aquino and in her electoral success of just 6 months earlier
had received assistance from both Noynoy and Kris Aquino ( Noynoy’s tv star
sister), as well as their support in her 2001 ousting of President Joseph Estrada
on the back of corruption claims.
On the 15th of November to protect themselves from the forthcoming forcible
removal, the workers called on the people in the barrios around Hacienda Luisita
to form a human barrier at the picket line, according to Lito Bais, current acting
president of ULWU. The villagers came, including priests, barangay officials, and
children whose families sympathized with the workers. Concerned groups from
out of town also sent contingents to help protect the strikers.
On November 15, 2004, the Philippine National Police (PNP) returned as
promised with reinforcements. According to reports to the Senate, around 400
policemen tried to disperse about 4,000 protesters. CATLU president Ric Ramos
was hit and collapsed from a large head wound, but the police were still unable
to break the picket.
At some point on the afternoon of the 15th, Union leaders were summoned to a
meeting at the Makati home of Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr., to attempt to
resolve the issue. The Union representatives left for the meeting early on the
morning of the 16th. Upon arriving at Makati, the representatives of the CATLU
were told that there would be no negotiations until the strike was lifted. While
the representatives of the ULWU, were refused entry as HLI management
claimed, contrary to Philippine Industrial Law, that as retrenched workers they
were effectively disenfranchised from the process, refusing to allow them the
right to negotiate on behalf of their peers. Strike organizers later stated they
they believed that this shambolic meeting was nothing more than a ruse to
allow the Government forces to organize their attack.
Dispersed by Bullets, a protestor, shot by Government forces during the Hacienda Luisita Massacre,
November 16th 2004.
Picture courtesy of Bullatat.
Upon returning to the picket at around 3.00 PM on the 16th of November, the
Union Leaders were greeted by a sight reminiscent of a war zone. In their
absence the security forces had swelled to include, 2 tanks equipped with heavy
weapons, a payloader, 4 fire trucks with water cannon, 17 trucks full of soldiers
in full battle dress, 700 policemen and snipers positioned in at least 5 strategic
locations.
he violence erupted when one of the tanks and the payloader broke through the
number one gate, which had been locked by management, and security forces
began pelting the protesters with tear gas and water cannon infused with
chemicals. The protesters fought back, burying tear gas cannisters in the soil
and hurling stones at their attackers with sling shots. Eventually the water
cannons and tear gas ran out and demonstrators, cheering their victory, surged
forward, hurling rocks at the security forces.
Gunfire erupted. The first spray of bullets lasted for a full minute, followed by a
series of short sprays. At least 7 people were killed and 121 injured, 32 by
gunshot wounds. At the Senate inquiry held into the massacre on the 1st of
December that year it was revealed that an astounding 1,000 rounds were fired
at the protesters. Doctors who autopsied the dead and examined the wounded
after the massacre reported that the victims had been shot whilst running away,
crouching or lying down.
On the 17th of November, 2004, the day after the massacre, Tarlac
Congressman and deputy speaker of the House, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III,
defended the dispersal in the House of Representatives, saying that “it’s an
illegal strike, no strike vote was called.” He added that police and soldiers were
“subjected to sniper fire from an adjacent Barangay.” The PNP official account of
the massacre echoed the statements of Noynoy, however these assertions were
debunked by evidence presented to the Senate enquirey.
A month after the Hacienda Luisita massacre, picket lines were established
around the Hacienda. Soon after, eight people who supported the farmers’
cause or had evidence supporting their case were murdered one by one.
The killings began on December 8, 2004 with the death of Marcelino Beltran, a
retired army officer turned peasant leader. Beltran was assassinated in his
house just before he was to testify about bullet trajectories at the Senate and
Congress on December 13 and 14, 2004.
On the 5th of January 2004, a group of 20 farm workers in a picket at the west
gate of the Las Hacienda’s housing development were fired upon by bodyguards
of Congressman Noynoy Aquino. George Loveland and Ernesto Cruz were shot
and injured in the incident. Both men survived their injuries and testified before
the Senate 7 days later. No charges were ever filed against anyone.
Local Councilor Abelard Ladera, who had collected documents relating to the
Hacienda Luisita SDO, with the intention of tabling them before the senate was
shot dead on the 3rd of March 2005.
his was followed by the assassination of Priest and Hacienda workers
sympathizer Father William Tadena, who was shot dead by a body guard of
Noynoy Aquino on the 13th of March. This killing was witnessed by fellow priest
Father Jun Flores, who has gone into hiding for fear of his life.Then on the 17th
of March 66 year old Victor “Tataben” Concepcion, an active supporter of the
strike, was shot dead outside his home.
The final murder of 2005 in Hacienda Luisita occurred on the 15th of October,
when
Tensions still run high in the Barangays of the Hacienda, this picture was taken in April 2012. photo
James Catlin
Florentine Collante, a vocal critic of Noynoy Aquino and the Cojuangco family
was assassinated, again by gunfire. The mood inside the Hacienda through 2005
was one of fear and suspicion. Barangay officials undertook what security
measures they could including the banning of motorcyclists wearing helmets
and bandanna’s obscuring their Identification, this was due to the fact that most
attacks were by motorcyclists. Signs like the one pictured above were put up
throughout the Barangays of the Hacienda and remain to this day (the above
picture was taken in April 2012).However the security measures did not stop the
carnage. On the 17th of March, 2006, Tirso Cruz, the ULWU leader who led the
protests against the incursion of the Subic, Clark, Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX),
known locally as the “Noynoy Superhighway”, on Hacienda Luisita land, was
shot to death in front of his father and brother.The bloodbath concluded with the
murder of Bishop Alberto Ramento, supporter of the Hacienda Luisita workers
and vocal critic of the prior priest killing. He was stabbed 7 times by his
assailants.To this day and in spite of eye witness identification in two of these
events, no charges have ever been filed against anyone in relation to any of
these crimes.
The 2005 Supreme Court Decision
The original petition the farm workers submitted lay dormant at the DAR since it
was filed in December 2003, but began to move after the November 2004
massacre. The DAR’s Task Force Luisita conducted an investigation and focus
group discussions among the farm workers, between the 25th of November
2004 and the 22nd of February, 2005.
In July 2005 the Cojuangco – Aquino’s open door to Malacanang Palace slammed
shut, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was angered that her former supporter,
Cory Aquino, had joined the growing number of anti-Arroyo demonstrators, who
were alleging large scale corruption and plunder, as well as election fraud in the
2004 election against the President. The Arroyo-Aquino alliance broke up on the
same month Task Force Luisita submitted the findings and recommendations
from its investigation, which became the Government’s basis for revoking
Luisita’s Stock Distribution Option (SDO) and ordering the distribution of the
Hacienda’s land to the farmers a few months later.
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
A special legal team was formed by the DAR in August 2005, to review the
report submitted by Task Force Luisita. On September the 22nd, 2005, Task
Force Luisita recommended the revocation of the stock distribution agreement
forged in May 1989, saying the SDO failed to fulfill the objectives of the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law in regard to promoting social justice and
improving the lives of the farmers. So on the 22nd of December, 2005, PARC
issued Resolution No. 2005-32-01, ordering the revocation of Luisita’s SDO
agreement and the distribution of the Hacienda’s land to farmer beneficiaries.In
response to that ruling, HLI petitioned the Supreme Court (SC) to prevent the
PARC from enforcing the resolution on the 1st of February, 2006. The SC
granted HLI’s petition and issued a temporary restraining order, preventing the
PARC from canceling the SDO agreement in June of that year.Negotiations
between the HLI management and some farmers began in June, 2007, after
representatives of AMBALA (the Luisita peasants group) and the Supervisory
group wrote to DAR that they are amenable to an out-of-court settlement.
The Presidency of Benigno “Noynoy” S Aquino III
Nonoy Aquino
Senator Noynoy Aquino launched his Presidential Campaign in Tarlac on the 9th
of February ,2010. During his speach in his family seat he made a commitment
that Hacienda Luisita lands would be distributed to small farmers by 2014.
Noynoy won the Presidential election on a largely anti-corruption platform and
was sworn into office as the 15th President of the Philippines on June 30th,
2010.
On the 6th of August that year HLI and factions of farmers’ groups signed a
compromise agreement giving the farmers the chance to remain as HLI
stockholders, or receive their share of Hacienda Luisita land. Many voted to
retain their stocks and receive cash from HLI, only to complain later that they
got minuscule amounts.
This petition was countered on the 16th of August HLI petitioned the Supreme
Court to approve the compromise deal on the 11th of August. but a faction of
the farmers’ groups who asked the SC to junk the compromise deal because it
was signed before the SC had ruled on the validity of the stock distribution
option (SDO), one of the two choices offered by HLI to the farmers in the
agreement (the other choice was land distribution). The rival faction also
questioned the authority of the signatories in the agreement to represent the
plantation’s farmer-beneficiaries.
On the 18th of August, 2010, for the first time since the dispute was elevated to
the SC in 2006, oral arguments on the Hacienda Luisita case were heard.
The SC, in a landmark decision on July the 5th, 2011, upheld the PARC’s order
revoking HLI.’s 1989 stock distribution plan. Under the plan is the stock
distribution option agreement that allowed farmers to pick between shares of
stock and land. The SC also ordered the DAR to administer the conduct of
another referendum in which the 6,296 qualified farm worker beneficiaries can
vote whether they want to remain HLI stockholders or receive actual land.
The SC said that while the stock distribution plan is nullified, the qualified farmer
beneficiaries must still be given the option to choose if they want to remain as
stockholders or not.
In summation the SC said, “While the assailed PARC resolutions effectively
nullifying the Hacienda Luisita SDP are upheld, the revocation must, by
application of the operative fact principle, give way to the right of the original
6,296 qualified FWBs to choose whether they want to remain as HLI
stockholders or not. The Court cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that in 1989,
93% of the FWBs agreed to the SDOA, which became the basis of the SDP
approved by PARC.”
After this decision farmers groups intensified protests, while the Aquino
Administrationconcentrated on the Arroyo Administration corruption issue.
Through July of
2011, farmers groups set up a camp outside of the DAR Offices in Quezon City.
Calls
Protesters demonstrating against the proposed third referendum on the Hacienda in 2011. Photo
courtesy of Bullatlat
were made for the DAR to reject the SC order to conduct another referendum.
Claims of bribery and coercion were made against the Cojuangcos. UMA
(agricultural union) Chair and ULWU President Lito Bais, claimed that HLI
supervisor Juanito Luna,was paying P5,000 ($116) to each farmer. Bais said the
Cojuangco-Aquinos are now using the Supreme Court decision to sow disunity in
Hacienda Luisita.
President Aquino’s uncle Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr., summoned the heads of
the 10 barangays of Hacienda Luisita. Cojuangco had previously made the
charge that “outsiders and leftists” are stirring controversy over the High
Court’s decision. Cojuangco said that he was dismayed by the declaration of
farmers groups that the sprawling sugar plantation in Tarlac should be
distributed to them via agrarian reform despite the high court’s ruling.“Who are
these people but outsiders and leftists. They’re the ones who want to bring
President Aquino down and destabilize our country,” he was quoted by the
media.
On the 20th of July AMBALA filed a motion for reconsideration, on the Supreme
Court decision ordering the Department of Agrarian Reform to hold a
referendum in Hacienda Luisita and allow the farmers to choose between
owning shares of stocks or land parcels. In asking the SC to reverse its decision,
the AMBALA said, “there is no reason for the Court to declare that the Stock
Distribution Option Agreement (SDOA) was not revoked and that it was only the
Stock Distribution Plan (SDP) and Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC)
resolution approving it that was canceled.”
On the 28th of July farmers groups led by AMBALA spokesperson Rodel Mesa,
called on the newly appointed ombudsman, retired Supreme Court Associate
Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales, to reopen the Luisita Massacre case. Mesa said
that after seven years, not a single government or armed forces official has
been held liable for the massacre and or for the injuries sustained by hundreds
of others when elements strongly suspected of being members of the Armed
Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) opened
fire on the farmworkers manning the picket line in front of the sugar mill Central
Azucarera de Tarlac. The farmworkers were at the time holding a strike
demanding that the management led by President Benigno Aquino III’s
Cojuangco relatives proceed with negotiations for a collective bargaining
agreement (CBA) and reinstate almost 320 members and newly elected United
Luisita Workers’ Union (ULWU) officials who were fired for participating in the
strike.
On the 24th of November the SC released it’s decision on the farmers petition
for reconsideration. Voting 14-0, the SC granted their petition and unanimously
ordered the distribution of 4,916 hectares of Hacienda Luisita lands to the
original 4,296 original farmworker beneficiaries (FWBs). It modified its July 5,
2011 ruling ordering the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to hold a
referendum to let the Luisita farmers choose between owning shares of stocks in
Hacienda Luisita Inc. or getting portions of the more than 6,000-hectare estate.
After the SC issued it’s ruling President Aquino said there should be “just
compensation” for the land owners. When asked by media to react on the SC
decision, Aquino said, “In agrarian reform, there are two objectives: number
one, empower the farmers so that they could have their own land to till. Second,
don’t exhaust the capital. There should be just compensation for the land owner.
The capital that will be returned to the landowner could be used to invest in
other endeavors.”
HLI, whilst saying that they would adhere to the SC decision filed an injunction
seeking compensation at 2006 prices, as opposed to the 1989 land prices
specified in the ruling. In essence HLI were seeking compensation of around P
10 billion. President Aquino, speaking on behalf of HLI asserted that this request
for compensation was for the benefit of all stock holders, which was inclusive of
the farmers who had taken up shares in the company under the SDO.
On the 24th of April, 2012, as the impeachment trial of SC Chief Justice Renato
Corona was taking place in the Senate. The SC “ruled in finality”, confirming
their November 24th ,2011, decision that the land be distributed to the farmers
with compensation at November the 21st ,1989, prices.
On the 29th of May, 2012, Renato Corona, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,
was found guilty in his impeachment trial, by Senate, convened as an
impeachment court. Corona was deemed to be guilty of Article 2 of the initial 8
articles of impeachment (5 of the 8 articles of impeachment were withdrawn by
the prosecution on the 29th of February, of the remaining 3, 2 were directly
concerned with impartiality in regard to former President, Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo), “betrayal of public trust and / or culpable violation of the constitution”
on the second article of impeachment, that he “failed to disclosed to the public
his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth as required under the
constitution.” In spite of Corona’s legal argument, that this issue concerned his
non-declaration of US Dollar accounts, which were exempt from disclosure under
legislation passed in 1973, which he claimed to still be valid as his dollar
holdings represented investment accounts that he and his wife had initiated in
1967.
The Corona impeachment had been launched under the Aquino government’s
supposed pursuit of justice for the reported crimes, corruption and abuses linked
to former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Corona is known as a staunch
political ally of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. His career and wealth reportedly
flourished under Arroyo, culminating in his being named as Supreme Court
Justice in the last few weeks of Arroyo’s disputed term, and after the 2010 poll,
in what is known in the Philippines as a “midnight appointment”.
The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) said Filipinos had supported the
impeachment complaint against Corona primarily because they view Corona as
a hindrance in the people’s drive to hold Arroyo accountable for her crimes
against the people. Secretary General of the NUPL, Edra Olalia stated that “After
the failed attempt to smuggle Arroyo out of the country through an arbitrarily
issued temporary restraining order on the hold departure order issued by the
Department of Justice against Arroyo, the people called and sought for an
independent Supreme Court and a pro-people judiciary.” As the impeachment
unfolded, critics such as the NUPL noted that for Aquino, the impeachment is
apparently“not so much about Corona’s subservience to Gloria Macapagal-
Arroyo nor his role and influence in the Supreme Court’s alleged accommodation
of Arroyo as it is about Hacienda Luisita.”
http://dreamcatcherproject.net/index.html/a-short-history-of-hacienda-luisita/
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