Luisita Farm Workers Defy Eviction, To Remain Nurturing the Land They’ve Won in Strike

Five years after the massacre, the spirit that defied the military might used against the thousands of striking farm workers of Hacienda Luisitia Inc (HLI) in Tarlac remains high, as they confront another battle for land and justice. (See related Photo Story I and II)

On October 30, 2009, the memorandum issued by HLI management last December 18 2008, ordering the farmers to stop tilling the lands and to leave the hacienda ended. The farmers were also ordered to enlist themselves with the HLI management until today, November 15, under the pretext of ascertaining their legitimacy as HLI farm workers. At the onset, the farm workers defy the order and continue nurturing the land that fed and sustained them since 2005.

At present, more than 2,000 out of the 6,453 hectares of Hacienda Luisita are planted with rice and vegetables that were cultivated and run by more than 800 family collectives since 2005.   Felix Nakpil  founder of the Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang-Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala or Alliance of Farm Workers in Hacienda Luisita), recalls that prior to the strike and to the 2005 decision of the Department of Agrarian Reform returning the lands to the farm workers, they were often very hungry during this season because there was  nothing to eat. But now, homes are teeming with harvested rice and vegetables.

As the deadline for enlistment draws to a close and preparation for the commemoration of the fifth year of the HLI massacre this November 16, the farm workers ready themselves as another 120 soldiers are deployed in the hacienda and are beginning to become restless.

Failure of SDO and brutality of Assumption of Jurisdiction  

The land of Hacienda Luisita should have been distributed to the tenants and workers since 1967.  The Conjuangco family however reneged on the agreement and in 1987, introduced the Stock Distribution Option (SD primarily to exempt the vast land from Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) implemented by then President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino.

The SDO scheme divides the annual man days to the thousands of farm workers, thus leaving each farm worker with basically two mandays a week and a P9.50 per day. The scheme condemned the farmworkers to a life of extreme poverty on one hand, and a sure profit for HLI on the other. At the time, HLI was one of the country’s biggest sugar supply source.

In 2004, HLI management implemented forced retirement scheme HLI workers who are members of United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU). When the workers refused to accept the offer and the collective bargaining agreement collapsed, 176 seasonal workers and 150 permanent workers were dismissed. ULWU was forced to go strike on November 6 which was participated by about 10,000 workers and their families.

Despite the police and military elements continuous strike dispersal, striking farm and mill workers and their families stood guard. On November 11, then Secretary of Department of Labour and Employment Patricia Sto Tomas, issued the Assumption of Jurisdiction order directing strikers to abandon the picketline and halt the strike as the stoppage affect national interest. The order was then followed by a Deputization order asking the police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to implement the order. .Er 16, army tanks rolled over the picketline and combined military and police forces fired at the strikers leaving seven strikers dead and 181 others wounded. The dispersal legalized by the Assumption of Jurisdiction power became the bloodiest strike dispersals in the modern history of Philippine workers movement.

Cultivation Campaign

In 2005, the farmers and workers of HLI scored a victory after the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) issued an order revoking the SDO and ordering the land distribution to the workers. A year after, the Supreme court issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) in implementing DAR’s order following petition  filed by HLI.

Despite the TRO, ULWU campaigned among the families in the hacienda to continue tilling the land and to grow food crops including rice and vegetables. The so-called “cultivation campaign” has already benefited 1, 676 people and 836 families in 10 of the 11 villages inside the hacienda.

People’s Caravan

Last November 16, a people’s caravan is went to Hacienda Luisita to mark the 2004 massacre and in support to the continuing struggle of the farmers and workers of HLI. More than two thousand people from various sectors from different parts of Luzon including Anakpawis chapters in Luzon, students, church people and other sectors joined the caravan and showed their unity with the HLI farmers in their cause.

CTUHR also joined the workers and members of other sectors in commemorating the HLI massacre and called to safeguard its gains through land distribution and workers’ exercise of their right to freedom of association without fear. CTUHR also vows to continue its advocacy for the repeal of  the Assumption of Jurisdiction power by DOLE secretary#.