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.
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 1stMarquis 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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.”
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