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PHOTO ESSAY
The sacadas
are the “outsiders” of Hacienda Luisita – the farmworkers who are not
members of any of the two unions in the vast sugar plantation because they
are seasonal workers. They are no different from the unionized hacienda
workers now on strike: they are every bit as oppressed as the latter.
PHOTOS BY JES AZNAR
TEXT AND
CAPTIONS BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO AND
JES AZNAR
Fifty-seven of the
114 injured in the Nov. 16 brutal strike dispersal at the Hacienda were
sacadas “imported” from the provinces of Negros, Isabela, Bataan, and
Nueva Ecija. A father and his infant child were among those killed but
whose bodies remain missing.
The working
conditions of sacadas bring to mind images of the legendary cruelty
suffered by the pharaoh’s slaves of ancient Egypt, by the enslaved Negroes
of pre-Civil War United States.
Many of them are
plucked from conditions of penury in distant provinces like Negros – only
to find themselves in as dire straits in Tarlac. For their work as cane
cutters, they are paid wages way lower than they are supposed to get – and
even what they are supposed to get is miserable.
They are packed into
quarters which at one glance are obviously unfit even for pigs. In their
crammed quarters, they endure the extremes of heat and cold, and take
“meals” that could not even be compared with the leftovers of Mikee
Cojuangco’s horses.
On top of all these
is the seeming omnipresence of uniformed men like George Orwell’s Big
Brother, eternally on the watch for anyone who would dare to make known to
the world the sacada’s travails.
They, the sacadas,
are the “outsiders” of Hacienda Luisita: every bit as oppressed as the
insiders. Bulatlat
With their parents having only five
months of work in the hacienda, these kids do not have the chance of going
to the local school. They spend their time as additional workforce and
have the sugarcane fields as their play ground.
“Enjoying” a
noontime nap, the sacadas endure high
temperatures
and crammed space
Importing sacadas from the Visayas is
far cheaper for the Cojuangcos than employing local hacienda residents.
These imports earn a group wage of P90 per ton of cane harvested, cleaned
and stacked. Normally, there are about 100 workers in a group. With a
maximum of only five months of work, they do not have a chance of becoming
regular workers.
Temperatures in these
quarters can go as high as 37 degrees Celsius.
Military hat shows
presence of soldiers in the vicinity
of the sacadas’ quarters.
This sacada is from the island of Negros, a place in central Philippines known for its sugarcane haciendas.
According to him, work and human conditions in his home province are no
different from what he has here in Tarlac’s Hacienda Luisita. For them,
having work and being able to “provide” for his everyday needs is already
“fulfilling.”
These tents are
where the sacadas “live.”
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© 2004 Bulatlat
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