CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines—Farm workers in Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac commemorated on Friday the strike they mounted in 2004, renewing calls for the government to give to over 5,000 tillers all the 6,453 hectares in the estate owned by the Cojuangcos.

Farm workers gathered at the first gate of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT) where, five years ago, they and some 3,000 sugar mill workers staged an agrarian and labor strike after negotiations with the Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) over distribution of lands and increase in wages and benefits had bogged down.

On November 16 that year, seven strikers died in a violent confrontation with soldiers and policemen who were sent to enforce the labor secretary's order to assume jurisdiction of the strike.

"We don't intend to cause trouble. We're just here to remember those who died during and after the Luisita massacre," said Lito Bais, chair of the United Luisita Workers Union. "We just want to pray for their souls and hail their sacrifices."

"For as long as the assembly is peaceful, we won't mind them," said Herman Gregorio, HLI assistant estate manager, by phone.

A temporary restraining order by the Supreme Court last year stopped the Department of Agrarian Reform from proceeding with the revocation of the stock distribution option and from giving out lands to the farm workers.

Gregorio said the HLI was "not out to evict the farm workers."

"There's a TRO to respect. What we are doing is to protect the estate from illegal occupants and illegal farmers," he said.

Various groups have sprouted, representing the interests of farm workers. The DAR said it would distribute lands not based on affiliations but on the criteria set under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, which was passed during the term of the late President Corazon Aquino.

Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III said he wanted the Luisita lands to be given to farmers but added that the matter was mainly for the Cojuangco clan to decide on.

While past commemorative events were simple and low-keyed, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and the partylist Anakpawis wanted a 50-vehicle caravan on November 16 to "mark a political statement that will oblige the Cojuangcos and their presidential frontrunner, Noynoy, to squarely face the issues involving Hacienda Luisita."

The two groups also sought the prosecution of government officials and state security forces implicated in the violent dispersal.

The November 16 commemoration will also take an international scope as labor organizations in the Unites States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Japan and Australia will hold solidarity activities, according to KMP secretary-general Danilo Ramos.

KMP chapters in other regions will hold protests in support of the clamor of Luisita farm workers to get lands.

"Hacienda Luisita belongs to Hacienda Luisita farm workers. Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and the Cojuangcos have no option but to relinquish the hacienda to the collective ownership and effective control of agricultural workers," Ramos said.