From Hacienda Binay to Hacienda Luisita: Cojuangco-Aquino clan face raps

Hacienda Luisita farmers lined up to subscribe to their complaints before the Department of Justice’s Prosecutors Office. The complained was filed against kin of President Aquino. Tetch Torres-Tupas/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines – Haciendas have been hogging the headlines of late, so what’s to stop one more?

This time it’s the farmers of Hacienda Luisita against the family of President Benigno Aquino III.

The complainants are over 40 farmers who are members of the Alyansa ng Manggagawa sa Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA) from the villages inside the Cojuangco-owned agricultural estate.
Named respondents are Aquino’s sister Maria Elena “Ballsy” Aquino-Cruz, uncle Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr., board members of the Tarlac Development Corporation (Tadeco); former Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Virginia Torres, Tarlac Provincial Police Director Alex Sintin and former Tarlac City Police Chief Bayani Razalan.

The complaints filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) include attempted murder, arson, child abuse, physical injuries, illegal arrest and arbitrary detention, theft, robbery and malicious mischief. The farmers were accompanied by their counsel Jobert Pahilga.

“Public attention is no longer on the bigger hacienda. Now we’re talking about Hacienda Binay, Hacienda Purisima, when public attention should still be in the biggest hacienda owned by the most influential people in our country: the Cojuangco-Aquino family,” Pahilga told reporters.

In contrast, Luisita farmers facing some 100 criminal cases spread across different Tarlac courts have been making headway, and several farmers have been arrested for fighting for their land, Pahilga said.

“Unfortunately, on the two others, we have not received any notice (from the DOJ). The cases against the farmers have been ongoing, arrest warrants have been issued. Meanwhile, they’re sleeping on our case against the President’s family,” the lawyer said.

He said Luisita farmers have experienced harassment: “Their crops were destroyed, their homes set on fire, and they were arrested for no reason.”

In November 2011, the Supreme Court ordered the distribution of some 5,000 hectares of land to farmer-beneficiaries out of the total 6,000 hectares of Hacienda Luisita. Last year, the Department of Agrarian Reform started distributing land titles to the beneficiaries.

AMBALA is opposed to distributing the land through a “tambiolo” or raffle draw, as the DAR has done in enforcing the high court’s ruling.

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