INTERNATIONAL GROUP URGE AQUINO TO DISTRIBUTE LUISITA FOR FREE
MANILA, JULY 11, 2011 (STAR) By Michelle Zoleta - More than 400 activists from 43 countries yesterday urged President Aquino to distribute the 6,453-hectare Hacienda Luisita sugar estate to farm workers.
Delegates of the 4th International Assembly of the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS) unanimously approved a resolution sponsored by the Luisita-based Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) compelling the President to let go Luisita and distribute the land for free.
"Hacienda Luisita belongs to Luisita land tillers. President Aquino and his family have no legal, moral and political basis to keep the sugar estate. We, the social activists of the world demand Aquino and the Cojuangco syndicate to give up Luisita in favor of farm workers," the ILPS resolution stressed.
Activists from the United States, Canada, Honduras, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Italy, Belgium, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Argentina, Kenya, Senegal, West Africa, South Africa, Cameroon, Burundi, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nepal, Cambodia, Palestine and the Philippines also criticized the decision of the Supreme Court instructing the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to conduct a referendum on the hotly disputed agrarian case since 1957.
[Photo - Dark days of Hacienda Luisita: Noy's Ghost of the past]
The high tribunal, voting 6-4, revoked the stock distribution option (SDO) but called for a referendum to ask Luisita farm workers whether they want to have their own land or shares of stocks in the hacienda owned by the President's family.
ILPS coordinating committee officer Danilo Ramos of the Philippines said the decision of the Supreme Court affirms the immoral and illegal control of the President and his family over Hacienda Luisita.
"It is correct to say that the decision is a political concession to the President and to all the landed clique in the country. The message is clear — the big landlords can always rely on reactionary court at the expense of peasant land rights and social justice," he said, emphasizing that Hacienda Luisita farm workers will file a motion for reconsideration within the next few days upon receipt of the SC decision.
He said ILPS members in the Philippines will help explain to the extreme bankruptcy, the pro-Cojuangco and anti-farmer decision of the high court to the general public.
P-Noy's social contract
Meanwhile, former Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, who ran for senator under Aquino's Liberal Party in 2010, called on the President to do the right thing for the Hacienda Luisita farmers and implement the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reform (CARPER).
"The ball is now in the court of President Aquino. We are appealing to him that he abides by the Constitution, to implement the CARPER, which is being expected by the people. As our leader, he should be the champion (of the people)," Baraquel said, adding she has not yet completely lost her trust in Aquino.
"As of now, I am still in the middle of our fight for the implementation of CARPER, particularly the Luisita, and I have not yet invested that emotion to be disappointed with President Aquino, either in governance in general or Luisita in particular. My disposition is to engage with him and his administration on this matter," she said.
Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines-National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace (CBCP-Nassa) chairman Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, on the other hand, wondered why the high court ordered a referendum when it was not mentioned as a condition in the implementation of CARPER.
He also said that President Aquino should not wash his hands of any responsibility on the issue.
"What kind of presidency does he hope to offer this country if he cannot even make his own family relinquish its stranglehold on properties that in the first place were acquired through government resources? It is well within his power to order DAR to distribute the land according to the spirit and conditions of the CARPER Law."
"The integrity of his social contract is clouded in doubts and mistrust until he finally learns to give precedence to the poor through social justice. He, and his advisers, should also bear in mind that the issue of land lies at the heart of the current peace process. Rural unrest could break out in the absence of genuine implementation of the CARPER Law," he added.
Pabillo also called on the farmers to unite and fight for justice. – With Evelyn Macairan
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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