“This victory will not have been possible without the sacrifice of the martyrs of Hacienda Luisita. However, justice for the people of the hacienda will only be complete if the perpetrators of the murders of the seven workers and four of their supporters will be brought to justice.” By Abner Bolos For the plantation and…
Tags: Hacienda Luisita
Hacienda Luisita workers: Will Justice Finally be Served?
Although long overdue, a recommendation by a government legal team to revoke the Stock Distribution Option (SDO) scheme is a major step in upholding the legitimacy of the Hacienda Luisita workers’ struggle. By John Paul Andaquig and Sweet Mary Cawicaan IBON Features / September 2005 IBON Features – Nearly a year since losing at least…
Stock Distribution Option: Land Reform without Land
That the plight of farm workers at Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac has already faded from the mainstream media limelight does not mean that there is now peace in the area. Last April 22, some 1,500 farm workers agreed to withdraw their shares in Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI), demand that stock distribution option (SDO) be revoked and opt for land distribution instead.
AFP, Police Can’t Win ‘Hearts and Minds’ at Hacienda Luisita
Hacienda Luisita continues to be a battle ground, albeit unarmed, between residents and government troops. Since March 10, three companies of soldiers have been deployed here while angry people and village officials have been trying to drive them away by sheer grit and numbers.
Confessions of a ‘Yellow Armyman’
A former member of the Yellow Army and supervisor of Hacienda Luisita who admitted to being one of campaigners for the Stock Distribution Option in 1989 tell how he did so — and why they are going against it today.
Abelardo Ladera: The Hero of Luisita
Before the coffin bearing the remains of Tarlac City Councilor Abel Ladera, the ninth Hacienda Luisita martyr, was buried, it was opened for his family and barriomates one last time. It took however almost an hour before the people could finish their goodbye: young ones took pictures of him with their cellular phones; the older ones patted the coffin, with whispers of “Salamat po, salamat po” (thank you, thank you) while a woman asked with a break in her voice, “Bakit ka nila pinatay, wala na kaming kasama.” (Why did they kill you, we no longer have someone to help us.)
Tarlac Councilor Is 9th Luisita Martyr; Victim’s Kin Finger Cojuangcos, Military as Suspects
From his humble beginnings as a sugar worker, City Councilor Abelardo R. Ladera emerged as one of the few successful local political figures who openly stood against the Cojuangco-Aquino dynasty in Tarlac. Ladera was gunned down at high noon of March 3 making him Tarlac’s first local official assassinated in the post-dictator era.
5,000 Luisita Workers To Lose Jobs in Cojuangco-Arroyo Land Plan
A land use plan which contains the comprehensive land conversion of the entire Hacienda Luisita into a commercial and industrial complex will likely force more than 5,000 plantation workers out of their jobs. The LUP includes President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTE). BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Bulatlat.com A land use plan (LUP) which contains the comprehensive…
Fields of Cane, Fields of Struggle
Sa Ngalan ng Tubo is action-packed and is never dragging. The music is at one time stirring and at another, solemn. Truly, the film portrays a history unfolding – and the strikers as the makers of history.
Battleground Gate 1: 78 days – and still on strike
Gate 1 of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac, where seven lay dead after the Nov. 16 carnage, remains as the battleground between the Cojuangcos and the striking sugar mill and farm workers. This is where hundreds of battle-scarred strikers have held their ground since Nov. 6 and even non-striking workers say unless this gate is…
The Hazards of Toiling for the Cojuangcos
A lost foot, a lost job and a threat to lose his home. This tale of a sugar mill worker at the Central Azucarera de Tarlac brings to fore the miserable conditions that bug the work force of Luzon’s largest sugar refinery. BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Bulatlat.com It was 30 minutes past midnight on Feb. 7,…