After six years: Justice continues to elude Luisita massacre victims

HACIENDA LUISITA, Tarlac -- After six years, justice continues to elude the victims of the Hacienda Luisita massacre, even as after decades of struggle, genuine land reform remains out of reach here for tillers of the vast Cojuangco-Aquino estate.

On Nov. 16, 2004, police and military forces fired upon hundreds of striking workers and their supporters in Hacienda Luisita, killing seven and injuring scores.

In the months following the massacre, prominent leaders and supporters of the strike, including the sugar central union president Ricardo Ramos, Tarlac City councilor Abel Ladera, and Aglipayan priest Fr. William Tadena, were assassinated, victims of extrajudicial killings by suspected military agents.

"Six years after the killings at Luisita, not a single perpetrator has been brought to justice," said CT Teachers Party-List Representative Antonio Tinio. "It is a sad and brutal reality that in our society, farmers can be massacred with impunity."

Tinio added “demands for justice and for genuine land reform at the Hacienda continues to be the litmus test of President Noynoy Aquino's commitment to human rights and social justice.”

“As the most powerful and prominent member of the Cojuangco clan, he has a huge personal responsibility in ensuring that justice is served. Luisita will continue to hound his administration for as long as the issues remain unresolved."

Tinio cited the Cojuangcos' efforts to implement a reportedly unequal stock-sharing scheme that would effectively deny farmers their right to own the land as well as reported negotiations to lease the lands to foreign investors, including the Chinese Wahaha group.

"Unfortunately, Aquino's hands-off attitude has allowed his clan to push policies within the Hacienda that have grossly aggravated the repression and landlessness of the farmers."

Tinio also condemned plans to conduct the joint RP-US training exercise known as Balikatan inside the vast sugar estate. "By allowing US troops to operate within the President's estate, Malacanang is raising the level of militarization and repression on the local population. This is an ill-advised move that can only be interpreted as self- serving on the part of PNoy. The Balikatan should be pulled out of Luisita."

“On the anniversary of the Hacienda Luisita massacre, progressive teachers and education workers are in solidarity with the farmers of Hacienda Luisita in their search for justice and genuine agrarian reform," Tinio said.