The Philippine Online Chronicles

I felt my blood pressure rising after reading President Benigno S. Aquino III's reaction on the recent Supreme Court decision ordering the distribution of Hacienda Luisita land.

"In agrarian reform, there are two objectives: number one, empower the farmers so that they could have their own land to till. Second, don’t exhaust the capital. There should be just compensation for the land owner. The capital that will be returned to the landowner could be used to invest in other endeavors," Aquino said in a report by Sunstar online.

I felt even more enraged after reading Kris Aquino's tweets about the issue.

In a report by ABS-CBN news online, Kris, in a succession of tweets, related a story about how her mother’s side of the family coped during martial law.

“Since Luisita is very much in the news, may I share a beautiful story? When our Dad was imprisoned during Martial Law, our lolo Pepe Cojuangco visited him (lolo Pepe died in the mid 70s),” she tweeted.

“Our Dad was being offered a deal, everything taken away from our Mom's parents would be ‘given back’ by the Marcos regime as long as my Dad signed papers admitting his guilt in the made up charges leveled against him.”

“My Dad lost his own father at 15 & Lolo Pepe was really like his own father. My Dad told our lolo he'd sign the papers because he didn't want to see my grandparents suffer & lose so much. Lolo Pepe told Dad, Ninoy kaya namin. I'll take care of Cory & the kids.”

“U fight for what is right because we believe in u. I hope that gives most of u a clearer picture of what my Mom's family is like. How they suffered & stood w/ my Dad & took care of us through the worst. To think, Ninoy Aquino was only their in law.”

Kris ended by saying her family respects the decision of the Supreme Court. “We respect the Supreme Court, we survived even when they took everything from us, including our Dad's life- & we will survive even this."

The President and her sister seem to be suffering from selective amnesia. To begin with, the more than 6,000 hectares of Hacienda Luisita land belongs to the farm workers. History proves that the Cojuangcos acquired the land in 1957 through a government loan with a condition that they would distribute the land to the farmers after ten years. That did not happen. The Cojuangco-Aquinos used every trick in the book to maintain control over the sugar plantation.

How dare Aquino ask for "just compensation" when his family has deprived thousands of farmers their right to decent life for more than half a century? The Cojuangco-Aquinos have earned billions for more than five decades at the expense of the farm workers. In fact, they still owe the farm workers billions from their shares as stockholders.

How dare Kris Aquino portray themselves as the victims here? Has she ever imagined how the families of farm workers survived each day with only P9.50 salary per week? Why not ask Lioning Halili who dreamt of sending her children to college but failed to do so because they had a hand-to-mouth subsistence during the years of SDO scheme? Why not talk to Florida Sabangan who had to do laundry and sell all kinds of goods so that she could feed her children? They had been working at the hacienda since they were 14 years old. Even if they knew hard work all their lives, thousands of farm workers and their families have had hunger and misery.

“We will survive even this?” What about the relatives of seven farm workers who were killed in a violent dispersal on November 16, 2004? Federico Laza, father of Jesus Laza, one of the victims of the Hacienda Luisita massacre, died of illness this year. He fulfilled his promise to his son, that he would fight for the right to land. He died without seeing the fruit of their struggle. What about Pastor Gabby Sanchez who lost his eldest son Juancho? That fateful morning, Juancho, then the family’s breadwinner, went to the picketline to provide water for the striking workers. Juancho was shot and never survived.

Just compensation for the Cojuangco-Aquinos? What about justice for the slain farm workers? What about social justice?

Meanwhile, the farm workers are ready for the days ahead. They have learned that their unity and struggle are their only powerful weapons against the influential family that has had two of its members as presidents of this republic.

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