TARLAC CITY—More than 1,000 Hacienda Luisita farmers, agrarian-reform beneficiaries and supporters took over portions of fenced farmland in Barangay Balete here on Monday.
The action coincided with the fifth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s final and executory decision to distribute the 6,453 hectares of the sprawling sugar estate to farmer-beneficiaries.
Farmers marched to Barangay Balete in the morning and started to break down the fortified concrete barriers of the bank property that they claimed “was illegally converted and sold by the Cojuangco-Aquinos’ Tarlac Development Corp. after the Hacienda Luisita massacre in 2004”.
The action was part of the bungkalan, or collective cultivation of the farmers, who previously tilled the area before the bank fenced off the property in 2013.
“This is just the start of our actions to reclaim our farmland. We have demolished the walls—the symbol of the Cojuangco-Aquinos’ land grabbing and terror in Luisita,” said Rudy Corpuz, secretary of the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Asyenda Luisita.
The Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) also supported the action of the Hacienda Luisita farmworkers.
“Kadamay expresses its full support to the OccupyLuisita movement, as it echoes our own call for the government to own up to its sins and finally begin to give to people what is due them,” Kadamay Chairman Gloria Arellano said.
Arellano added that “around 1,000 hectares of land remain untilled and, therefore, unproductive, simply because the landlords and the government hold on to their spoils rather than fulfill their duties to the people. Just like the idle housing units, the ruling class would rather see homes and land go unused rather than be owned or made productive by the broad masses of the Filipino people.”
“For decades, we were barred from entering our farmlands. Private security guards of the bank destroyed our crops and harassed our leaders and members. The Department of Agrarian Reform, under former Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes, implemented the bogus tambiolo land-reform raffle. The Lorenzos of Mindanao invested in Central Azucarera de Tarlac and continue to exploit sugar mill workers and sacadas. We are fighting back again. It is our right and duty to defend our right to the land and reclaim what is rightfully ours,” Corpuz said.
The #OccupyLuisita activity is part of a series of land occupation and land-cultivation activities nationwide in the escalating agrarian struggles asserting genuine land reform. #OccupyLuisita is supported by militant organizations led by Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura and the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan.