Militant farmers slam arrest of Hicap, 10 land reform advocates

Hacienda Luisita   INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Militant farmers on Wednesday decried the arrest of Anakpawis Rep. Fernando Hicap and 10 other agrarian reform advocates at Hacienda Luisita, branding it as an example of human rights abuses purportedly committed every day at the sugar estate owned by President Benigno Aquino III’s family in Tarlac.

Hicap was attending a fact-finding mission on land distribution in the sugar estate at about noon Tuesday when he and his 10 companions were apprehended by members of the Philippine National Police.

The group was reportedly being held at the Tarlac City Police Station on charges of illegal assembly, direct assault, trespass to dwelling and malicious mischief.

In a statement, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas described the arrests of Hicap and the other agrarian reform advocates as an example of purported abuses experienced by farm workers and residents of Hacienda Luisita.

“The national fact-finding mission team (was) in Hacienda Luisita to document political and economic rights abuses suffered by farm workers,” KMP secretary general Antonio Flores said.

“Unfortunately, the team experienced first-hand the day-to-day violence experienced by Hacienda Luisita farm workers and residents,” he said.

The KMP said no formal complaint had been lodged against Hicap and his 10 companions as of Wednesday morning even as they remained under the custody of Tarlac police.

“The illegal arrest and detention of Ka Pando and 10 other land reform advocates show that Hacienda Luisita is under a state of terror,” Flores said.

“Even [a] person who supposedly enjoys parliamentary immunity was not spared. Imagine the life of an ordinary Hacienda Luisita farm worker at the hands of the President’s family,” he said.

“And this state of terror is continuously being used as a major component of the Cojuangco-Aquinos and the Department of Agrarian Reform’s campaign of deception and denial of Hacienda Luisita farm workers’ rights to the lands,” Flores said.

The KMP reiterated its calls for the “free distribution” of Hacienda Luisita, insisting that the distribution of the landholdings “should be beyond the bounds of the bogus Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.”

“Hacienda Luisita should be distributed for free,” Flores said, noting that the order of the Supreme Court to compensate the landowner “does not automatically mean that farmers should pay amortization.”

The group also accused the Tarlac Development Corporation (Tadeco), a firm controlled by the Cojuangco family, of land grabbing and eviction of Hacienda Luisita farm workers.

The group said Tadeco issued a “notice to vacate” dated July 30, 2013 and received in August, instructing farmers in Barangay Sta. Catalina (now Cutcut) inside Hacienda Luisita to stop planting and leave the land within 15 days from the receipt of the letter.

The KMP said farm workers in Barangay Balete received similar demand letters from Tadeco in what it called “blatant land grabbing.”