Hacienda in the hands of tillers
FARMERS differ even in describing how parcels of the Cojuangco family-owned Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac City came into their possession.
Members of the United Luisita Workers’ Union (Ulwu) and the Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala), who till pieces of the more than 6,000-hectare sugar estate, call it “confiscation.”
For others more friendly to the hacienda owners, it is “hiram” (borrowed), with permission from the managers to use the land while a case is pending in court.
Since the 2004 strike at the hacienda, farmers have managed to use parcels of the land. Some had planted rice and vegetables to sustain themselves during the work stoppage, as well as those at the picket lines. Others continue to grow sugarcane from borrowed capital.
Those who got big parcels that make up the bulk of the plantation easily made cash by leasing the land to sugar planters. Many of them favor the stock distribution option (SDO), having obtained shares of stock in Hacienda Luisita Inc., which manages the estate, according to one farmer.
Last week, as Ulwu lawyers asked the Supreme Court to set aside its order to subject farmers to another round of referendum, union members cleared with bolos and hand tractors another part of the hacienda inside the barricaded 500-ha property claimed by Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) and Luisita Industrial Park Corp. (Lipco).
‘Bungkalan campaign’
Lito Bais, acting Ulwu chair, said the activity, which the members called “bungkalan campaign,” was meant to assert their rights over the land and, more so, to serve as a call on the court to junk the referendum in which the farmers must choose between SDO and land distribution.
About 10 ha have been cultivated and planted to squash, ampalaya (bitter gourd), okra, eggplant and saplings of mango and santol. The farmers have also set up camp in the area.
In its July 5 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that RCBC and Lipco “purchased the lots in question on their honest and well-founded belief that the previous registered owners could legally sell and convey the lots though these were previously subject of CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program) coverage. Ergo, RCBC and Lipco acted in good faith in acquiring the subject lots.”
But Bais called this “a big lie,” noting that it was impossible for RCBC and Lipco not to know that Hacienda Luisita “is the most controversial agrarian dispute in the country.”
Balete experience
“Taking over parcels of land then was difficult. We were guarded,” Ramon David, an Ulwu member and original agrarian reform beneficiary, said in Filipino.
Farmers interviewed by the Inquirer said Army detachments used to be found inside Luisita and those who “confiscated” or “borrowed” land were either the “matatapang” (brave), who would risk their lives for land, or “pro-management,” who were allowed to use the land without being harassed.
They said they were summoned to the detachments. One of them, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, said he was told to vacate a parcel of land “if I love my family.” Another who grew vegetables gave up the land when his hut was burned.
These incidents in Barangay Balete, they said, made them fearful of occupying the land, they said. Today, only a handful still stay to till.
Balete, the farmers said, was then reeling from the death of its former barangay chair and then Councilor Abel Ladera. The official was gunned down by unidentified men five months after the bloody dispersal of the Hacienda Luisita strike in November 2004 that claimed the lives of seven farmers.
Of the 537 beneficiaries in Balete, 480 failed to get any piece of land to till, David said. The village covers some 265 ha of the plantation.
Ulwu farmers said they supported their leaders in asking the court to reconsider its order and do away with a referendum. They said they would boycott the exercise if the court insists on it.
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) have also filed a motion urging the high court to set aside its order. They said the entire 6,435-ha sugar plantation should be distributed to the farmers “to achieve the agrarian reform policy mandated by the Constitution.”
Shares from lease
Many of the Balete residents were jobless and landless when a new set of officials was elected in 2007. To address the inequity and discontent, and maintain peace, Renato Luna Jr., barangay chair, said the village council passed a resolution declaring an equal distribution of land among legitimate beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
But as most sugarcane fields were already on lease for three years when the resolution was adopted, Luna said it was impossible to divide and distribute the land. He said he was able to convince most of the land takers to share proceeds of the lease with the have-nots.
Lease payments are now being coursed to the village council, which, in turn, distributes shares to farmers.
Luna said that in 2007, most of the properties in Balete were leased to planters at P3,000 a hectare a year for three years. Last year, he was able to negotiate an increase ranging from P7,000 to P10,000 a hectare a year for the next three years.
On the average, a nonlandholder is given P1,000 a year as share from the lease payment. The amount is computed based on the size of the property and the number of beneficiaries. Had land been parceled out equally, each of them should have 4,000 square meters.
Still, Luna said, he wanted the SDO to continue. “People need jobs, not land,” he said.
Farmers who grow palay and vegetables said it was not true that only sugarcane can grow in the area. “The land is fertile. Palay grows well because the land has been nurtured by fertilizer for sugarcane,” Ronald Sakay, a farmer, said in Filipino.
Tarlac City Councilor Emy Ladera, who has been pushing for land distribution, said beneficiaries should not be faulted for having mortgaged even their home lots. In the face of hunger, this is their immediate recourse, she said.
“Let us not denigrate the beneficiaries by saying they cannot do it. That is precisely why there is land reform and there is the DAR. Let us help them so they can later be self-sufficient,” she said.
