50mm, 1/60s, f/2.8, ISO 800

the parol, or Christmas star, is a representation of the Star of Bethlehem, which in the Christian tradition, shone over Jesus’ birthplace on Christmas day.  i’m starting out the month of December with an image of parol vendors somewhere in Tarlac.  i was actually driving at that point, and i stopped the car, pulled out the D90 and shot through the window. hahaha!

To all thinking Filipinos! Let’s not be duped into electing into office someone who claims to stand for change when his history tells us otherwise. Let us learn the lessons of our history, and save the Philippines for our children’s future. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

IS RP HISTORY TO REPEAT ITSELF?

(The Truth about the People Power Revolution)

By Fredelino Buscayno Marasigan

History’s significance is by having knowledge of the past, one can chart and plan for a better future by avoiding the mistakes or debacles committed in previous or bygone times. By knowing what had truly happened in the past, one can arrive to an objective decision of what to do; so that it becomes essential that one should thoroughly examine the real facts that occurred in an event. A big propaganda lesson from World War II history is an infamous “Big Lie” principle perfected by the Nazi Germany Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment & Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels. The propaganda technique is based on the theory that a lie, if audacious enough and repeated enough times will be believed by the masses.  Broadcast a lie over and over again and people will believe it as the gospel truth.[1] So as to arrive at what really occurred in a historic event, a historian must detach himself to carefully examine event, analyze the characters involved and their motives regarding their participation and evaluate their effects. By ascertaining the relationships or linkages between historical persons or organizations, one will understand the rationale of their actions or deeds; and even predict their future actions.

Corazon C Aquino & the People Power Revolution

In February 1986, Philippine history was rocked by a phenomenon called EDSA People Power Revolution. Supposedly, the Pilipino people by going to EDSA Avenue ejected and sent into exile its dictator Ferdinand Marcos (FM), the president of more than 20 years and installed Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino (CCA) as the new president of government.  She was heralded as the Savior of Philippine democracy, a plain housewife with no political experience except for the fact that she was the widow of slain returning-from-US-exile Senator Benigno Aquino in August 21, 1983. Prior to her husband’s assassination, she was a mere backdrop to her popular politician-husband, and as fate had it, she then had now a country to run.

Being a neophyte in governance, Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino had a board of advisers-assistants, who helped run the country for her. To put a stamp of legitimacy on her assumption of power, they had a revolutionary government immediately declared & a Freedom Constitution. These enabled them to execute her authority over the government & the people, to put structures in government to remove whatever systems & procedures she deemed to be oppressive & anti-democratic as used by the previous regime (like the military trial courts, Ministry of Human Settlements, Ministry of Information), and to uncover abuses & confiscate hidden wealth of the Marcoses & their cohorts (like the PCGG). CCA began to erase reminders and vestiges related to the previous regime and suppressed whatever loyalties or sympathies that may still be felt towards the Marcoses. For all the help they assisted her run government and attain her desires, CCA rewarded her advisers generously with positions of power with access to wealth, influence or fame.

For those who supported her ascent to power, who were truly opposition, or who suffered during martial law & the Marcos Era, Corazon C Aquino was correctly righting a wrong done to the country, her family & person; while those who prospered with Marcos & believed in his cause, it was politics of revenge. For those did not take sides or were just to busy surviving by making a decent living, they could not care less.  While for those who were part of the military, political or civil government, at this period of transition or cusp between two (2) eras, the name of the game was called Balingbingan—switching to the winning side to save one’s skin or wealth. However, there were those who prospered in the Marcos era but played a part in creating the events that led to the fall of Marcos & the installation of CCA, they were proclaimed heroes and were able to keep their share of loot accumulated under Marcos—untouched by the PCGG.

The Transition between Two (2) Eras

To allay fears or perceptions that CCA will not turn to a dictator by her revolutionary government, a new constitution was urgently needed to put a stamp of legitimacy on her assumption to power. An “instant” constitution was hastily cooked up by selected “learned” men of the same persuasion as the new president & hurriedly ratified within the heady spirit of euphoria of change for the better under the new era. Actually, the 1973 Constitution was then amended by discarding whatever articles & procedures were synonymous to Marcos era, by adding what structures and systems that were in accord, correct, palatable to the perception of the new dispensation, and justifying whatever incorrect or inappropriate actions that were undertaken to displace the old regime. As time passed, multi-defects & shortcomings in the Cory Constitution surfaced affecting the proper & just governance of the state & the people that merits a charter correction. The problem is that the stalwarts of the Cory Constitution & administration are still around and a change of their beloved charter is perceived to be a return to martial law, abuses & plunder. Due to pride they turn a deaf ear on a legitimate call to rectify their defective charter since in their hasty task to legitimize Cory’s ascent to power, they fail to address the true social defects of Philippine society, like the mal-distribution of wealth caused by the Philippine oligarchy for which Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, is a blatant member.

To the victors go the spoils and their version of history as to what had happened in the change from a supposedly ruthless dictatorship to a new air of Philippine democracy is peddled. During Martial Law, the Marcos propaganda arm was the Ministry for Information to malign and belittle the opposition (traditional politicians as trapos) and suppress dissent using confiscated media resources. News blackout was a common occurrence to hide whatever faults, debacles or abuses committed by government or by those in cahoots or profited being in the side of Marcos. To a point the martial law curfews were rumored to have been used to hide the movement of the dead soldiers killed in the anti-secessionist campaign in Mindanao. The opposition used this rumor tactics well and thru hand-passed photo-copied papers to spread their anti-government campaign versus the Marcos government multimedia propaganda machinery.

With the success of the People Power revolution, the shoe is now on the other foot for the former oppressed opposition/dissenters, which experienced & learned from the Marcos propaganda machine to write their version of history and ensure the stomp-out of whatever vestiges, loyalties, and sympathies still inclined towards the past Marcos era. Like the martial law marches and hymns (Mabuhay ang Pilipino), the new era propagandists used songs and hymns (Ang Bayan Ko) to agitate & prop the minds of the people towards the new era of democracy. Using the same ‘Big Lie’ technique but with a more vengeful weave, the New Democracy disinformation stories were now more rabid to paint the Marcoses and their ilk as part of the plundering herd of the conjugal dictatorship, human rights abusers, insatiable looters of the national wealth, Imelda’s avariciousness for jewels & shoes, graft & corruption ridden regime. The new-democracy media depicted the image that nothing good came out of Marcos martial law era and only good things would come out of Cojuangco-Aquino administration.

Corazon C Aquino & Military Administration

President Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino swore that in her New People Power era the oppressive martial law techniques will never be used; her program of government is that of an anti-thesis of what Dictator President Marcos did. By her Church backing, she depicted her presidency as on the side of good; a reverse of whatever Marcos did, who was an evil fascist dictator. So, she immediately set free all political prisoners, including the communists brigands (Jose Maria Sison, Bernabe Buscayno, & others), the godless forces who have been fighting the government since the 1946 Philippine Independence from US colonialism. The communist rebels immediately went back to the mountains, reorganized and continued their armed struggle. By this one act, Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino belittled all the deaths, efforts and sacrifices of soldiers, constables & policemen in defense of this communist armed threat to Philippine democracy prior to rise to power.

To Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino & her supporters, they could not care less, since soldiers are just soldiers, and they got paid for their sacrifices & their families got their death benefits. It is now the CCA supporters’ time to reap the spoils of war—but war between whom? The Marcoses & the Aquinos? Were not the AFP soldiers the soldiers of the Filipino nation? Marcos claimed that Ninoy Aquino supported & was a sponsor of the NPAs. And since the side of Aquino won, so must his NPA allies be freed by his presidential widow. Since the military was used to prop up martial law, they can then be perceived to be the enemy who was on the side of evil & lost by serving under Marcos. Sun Tsu, the Chinese philosopher who wrote the Art of War, said that when soldiers are confused, their will to fight is affected. They will hesitate to fight, or can easily be misled and be defeated.[2]

Next, President Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino went to Indanan, Sulu and embraced Nur Misuari, the advocate of 1972 Muslim Secessionist rebellion in the South. She appointed Misuari as ARMM governor, who paid and re-armed all his MNLF soldiers from government funds & Arsenal, and organized the Abu Sayaff to continue their armed secessionist struggle, terror bombings & kidnapping activities.  She was strongly advised not to undertake this action, but she did—thereby, she revived the Moro Nationalist Liberation Front (MNLF), an insignificant vanquished force then, due to the vigorous Sulu anti-secessionist campaign, countless deaths and sacrifices of soldiers thereat after MNLF treacherous massacre of BGen. Teodolfo Bautista & 33 others at Patikul, Sulo in the guise of having peace negotiations.  As what CCA did with the NPA revival, she negated all the efforts, blood, deaths, sacrifices, that the AFP poured at the pacification drive in South-West Mindanao.  For every marine, soldier, policeman killed in Sulu & Basilan provinces today, they still blame & curse Corazon Cojuangco Aquino for her legacy of reviving the MNLF. The revived MNLF hostaging the whole Zamboanga City on 2002 was a huge embarrassment & a slap on the face of the AFP & its erstwhile Southern Command. Every MNLF-Abu Sayaff hostage-taking or terrorist act done in Mindanao is a huge blow to the credibility of RP Government to enforce peace & order within its territory.  Thanks to President Cory Aquino!

Despite all her executive powers, CCA failed to uncover the real masterminds & their principal cohorts, who perpetrated her husband’s assassination.  Instead, she had imprisoned the platoon of soldiers whose only fault was failure to secure her returning husband from exile; since by their unit’s approach, the assassination plot was carried out. Her scorn & denigration of soldiers and the military establishment for their participation in martial law & assassination of her husband, is understandable on why CCA distrusted & mistreated the military service despite all the AFP’s effort to sacrifice & die to defend & keep the country intact and keep democracy safe. By reviving the NPA, & resuscitating the MNLF/ Abu Sayaff, seven (7) coup d’etat attempts were undertaken by disgruntled and confused military & police elements led by the RAM, who triggered her being stalled into power. All these attempts were all defeated by constitutionalist & professional soldiers & policemen. These coup attempts had very telling effects on the Philippine economy; it triggered foreign investment pull-out, discouraged potential international investors, instigated capital flight, and caused the Philippine economy to spiral. This was what happened to the country when there is a misunderstanding between a commander-in-chief and her confused armed forces. Within the military service, CCA is still perceived as an avenging angel out to punish the Philippine military thru the MNLF-Abu Sayaff and the CPP-NPA-NDF that she resuscitated during stint of power.

By the way, do you know that Cory’s specially-picked & trusted generals introduced the ‘goose-step’ method of marching to the AFP when they were brought by CCA to Red China (junket)? CCA was so pleased by how the Chinese military marched, that the AFP generals required the AFP to goose-step. This style of marching is rather difficult to execute so the whole AFP had to spend countless hours or weeks learning & mastering how to goose-step under the hot sun just to please Cory & her generals. Little did the brown-nosed Cory generals realized that they instituted in the pro-democracy New AFP, the fascist or police-state method of marching that their Commander-in-Chief supposedly abhors. When generals only cater to whims of dumb politicians with an agenda other than the welfare of the people but protecting their vested interests, generals will also look after their own selfish interests, their promotions, their perks ( & pockets), their assurance of a seat in government when they retire, perhaps as cabinet secretary, as under-secretary, as assistant-secretary, or as ambassador? So who profits in this new military game of brown-nosing? When all the Cory generals retired, the AFP discarded the goose-step style of marching since it was fascistic in nature & bad image for a pro-democratic AFP. What a waste of time, effort and resources all that goose-stepping & brown-nosing was!

CCA must not be blamed for military graft & corruption for Marcos did that by spoiling, politicizing & corrupting them. [To become a CSAFP or Major Service Commander, one must have been assigned with the Presidential Security Command or Group.] Cory could not do anything to them for she was beholden to them for initiating the ouster of Marcos. Since she was at a quandary what to do with them, she left them alone to self destruct—losing their primary core values that they have become mercenaries & prostitutes.–That is for sale to those who would maintain their spoiled status. Military organizations in democracies are meant to be guided or given parameters or limits by which they are allowed to administrate & operate. History has something to do with about this assertion on the military institutions; they must be given a tight lease; not unless one would want to repeat the hard earned lessons of what World History taught about France and how a megalomaniac general named Napoleon Bonaparte set the 18^th century Europe on fire. That is what Corazon C Aquino and her learned advisers did not know, and up to now plagues the present administration of GMA, including Estrada’s.

The New Democracy Administration

As a President, CCA had the least contribution in terms of infrastructure (she has the lowest record for infrastructure built, since Marcos loved to build—a source of graft & corruption); yet for her few civil works ports projects, there was only one (1) privileged contractor. Cory’s hand-picked people became rich to even becoming senators & congressmen; appointed city mayors entrenched themselves & their families in positions of power. Government positions & contracts were given to the privileged & connected especially when local & provincial elected positions were given/ appointed. Under her administration, the term Kamaganak, Incorporated came to be known for her relatives, cordon sanitaire, & close advisers, who made money during her term. One cannot say that there is no corruption during Cory’s administration; proof of which is that they are very much around running the city & country just as rapaciously then & now. All of them know that their position of power & wealth came from that Mother-Savior of Philippine democracy, CCA. People & the Cory media were quiet about this for it was considered a sin to criticize President Cory, who led the Crusade against the evil Marcos dictatorship. Actually, by the vilification campaign waged on the Marcoses, to criticize President CCA meant that one was a Marcos supporter or part of his evil ways.

The center piece of the Pres CCA government was the nation-wide Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) & Program (CARP). It was meant to free the tenants of bondage from their rich land-owners and so get to own the land that they have been tilling & nailed to for centuries. The CARP was vigorously implemented nation-wide breaking up all large landholdings, leaving only 7 hectares to the land owners.  However, CCA despoiled it by exempting the Cojuangco’s Hacienda Luisita estate from CARL implementation; this caused her Agrarian Reform cabinet secretary, Miriam Defensor Santiago to resign her post. This is still a black mark on Pres CCA regime and an unresolved national agrarian issue against the government up-to-today.

Among all Philippine presidents, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino is the only one with a record of owning a full-pledged massacre committed right on the heart of Manila at Mendiola Street fronting the presidential palace. This was known as the Mendiola Massacre.[3] On January 22, 1987, 13 farmers were killed (39 wounded by gunshots, 12 sustained physical injuries) by Manila Police civil disturbance control units commanded by former Police General Alfredo Lim (now Manila mayor) that held the first line of defense. His defense rationale to the Presidential Fact Finding Citizen’s Mendiola Committee was that the Philippine Marines unit (under BGen [now Senator] Rodolfo Biason) did the shooting, which were at the 3^rd line of defense; and yet television footage of the massacre showed and eyewitness accounts state policemen doing the firing.[4]

Police General Alfredo Lim was a Marcos general famous for his talent of magic of disappearances (commonly referred to as salvage); he made his name cleaning up criminals, drug syndicate pushers, gangs in the City of Manila. He openly switched side & allegiance during the EDSA event by affinity being of Chinese ancestry as the Cojuangcos. By joining the Aquino crusade for the good, whatever evil he had done for Marcos would be forgotten & forgiven (swept under the rug). As Manila mayor, he still uses his infamous ways on the supposedly bad boys of Manila, and a rabid staunched supporter of Pres. CCA & family. After what she did to him, he should eternally be grateful. This is why the city of Manila is festooned with Ninoy & Cory Aquino yellow banners to remind BGen Lim what he owes the heroic/saintly icons of democracy by supporting the presidential candidacy of their son, Noynoy.

What CCA did was to invite the leaders of the angry farmers to the Palace. Rumor had it  that all the massacred farmer’s families were paid off in terms of compensations, burial, transportation & hospitalization expenses; just as in the Phil Sports Stadium Stampede  (also referred to WOWOWWE Stampede  or Ultra Stampede) where 71 people died, 392 injured/ hospitalized. To avert complaints, burial & hospitalization fees were paid off, that is why no ABS-CBN executive was even charged in court for negligence. [5]In the Philippines, when there are no complaints, there is no crime committed. But, who and how much was paid for the massacred farmers’ burials, hospitalization & compensation to their families to keep the issue quiet? Just like compensation for poor dead soldiers, the poor farmers could not complain. Nobody was charged for a crime, went to jail, nor reprimanded for the Mendiola Massacre. Both Police General Alfredo Lim and Marine General Rodolfo Biason were absolved of any wrong doings and that is why President Cory has a clean human rights record. Senator Jose “Pepe”Diokno and JBL Reyes resigned in protest as Chair & Vice-Chair of the Human Rights Commission after they saw that the whole Mendiola Massacre was white-washed by the Presidential Fact-Finding Citizens’ Mendiola Commission. By this massacre & its apparent white wash, CCA holds the 2^nd worse human rights record among all the RP presidents. [6]Where were the Church & the nuns’ condemnation on their fair-haired Savior of Philippine democracy? Is CCA not responsible for the Mendiola Farmers massacre perpetuated by her loyal henchmen and white-washed by her people? Is not the Catholic Church especially its rabid nuns, part of the Yellow Aquino oligarch fanatics that are anti-poor/ anti-farmers who deserve justice.

Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino’s Energy, Debt Payment & Despair Legacy

One legacy that CCA left the country was the severe power shortages. Can one remember the terrible 12-hour brown-outs during her Administration and the monstrous Metro-Manila traffic jams caused by these? Due to no electricity, there was also no water since the pumping stations will not work. There were long lines at gas stations by the same no electricity problem.  How much work losses did these brown-outs cause? How much business, tourism & investment or opportunity losses occurred, no one knows? Just what caused this energy shortage phenomenon?

When CCA came into power, she ordered the mothballing of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), declaring that it was unsafe to operate due to supposedly 4000defects. The BNPP was depicted as an example of Marcos corruption & stupidity since the whole plant cost $2.3billion to build (or nearly four (4) times the initial bid of $600million); and for constructing it at Mt. Natib, supposedly a dormant volcano sandwiched between the earthquake-prone Philippine Fault and the West Luzon Fault. CCA, an anti-thesis of Dictator Marcos, decided that Westinghouse (the plant-builder) and the US Export Import Bank (the financier) should be paid the whole principal debt & interests, despite its bloated cost and the fact that it has never produced a single spark of electricity.[7]

Ana Marie R Nemenzo, Freedom from Debt Coalition President stated that President CCA was “equally guilty” as Marcos for foisting the “notoriously scandalous debt” on the Filipino people—“the strongman for building it and his successor for insisting to pay for it.” A whole generation of Filipinos had paid P120 billion for the BNPP, which CCA scrapped. The worse is that CCA failed to put in place alternative energy projects for the BNPP she scrapped and made the people suffer the experience of those power shortage black-outs that had a telling effect on the Philippine economy and the losses & despair it had caused. What a tremendous waste of money & loss of opportunity that the Filipino people had to endure & suffer for CCA”s mistake of being a biased anti-thesis of Marcos.

So much hope was generated by the return of freedom & democracy, but all these turn to despair by the mismanagement of resources, government by connections, politics of revenge and the continued oligarchic rule over the Philippines. The country’s economy started to spiral down the drain to become the basket case of East Asian economies during CCA’s time, and in order to survive, the brain-drain or diasporas of the youth & the jobless for greener pastures jump-started the overseas employment surge to make use of their talents else. All these started with Marcos but with the terrible despair generated by the Cory letdown administration, the brain-drain gushed. Thanks to Cory who motivated Filipinos to seek jobs elsewhere, the Philippines now have a robust overseas contract worker phenomena.

CCA’s Metro-Manila Floods Legacy

After the recent Typhoon Ondoy’s sincerely ravaging of eastern Metro-Manila, armchair columnists have started the blame game and castigating government unpreparedness & stupidity. Nonetheless, the current conventional wisdom for the cause of the disaster is Global Warming, MMDA’s allowing the Metro’s floodgates deteriorate, no budget for maintenance or flood control equipment upgrade or plan for modernization, squatter infestation of waterways. This was so until people in the know of history of Luzon & NCR flood issues surfaced and brought forth what they know in the internet. Right a way, CCA “Yellow Diehards” defended their heroine to forget the past and move on.[8]

“…following 40 days from Oct. 11 to Nov. 20 in 1970, three super typhoons — Sening (Joan), Titang (Kate) and Yoling (Patsy) caused a death toll of more than 2,000. …the worst to hit our country since 1947 as the damage wrecked havoc to the city of Manila, its suburban areas and nearby provinces, in terms of flooding and damage to property. (It would not be until November 1991 when Typhoon Uring(during the Cory administration) would claim more than 5,000 lives.) As an offshoot of that devastation, President Ferdinand Marcos immediately ordered the updating of studies on flooding and other such waterways issues in Greater Manila. …Corollary to this, Marcos also created in 1973 a policy think tank called Task Force on Human Settlements to look into Greater Manila’s problems brought about by its rapid population increase and urban growth…

“It was primarily on the basis of the recommendation of this think tank that in 1974, President Marcos enacted Presidential Decree 475 to add more teeth to his earlier decree going to the extent of actually appropriating funds for public works for various projects including P85 million for the Napindan Hydraulic Control Structure, P52 million for the Manggahan Floodway and P62 million for the Parañaque Spillway… the river walls of Pasig River were raised to accommodate a water level of 14 meters — a level that corresponds to the expected depth of flood with a 10-year return period. Twelve operating pump stations …put into operation… Aviles, Balete, Binondo, Libertad, Makati, Paco, Pandacan, Quiapo, Sta. Clara, Tripa de Gallina, and Valencia. There are floodgates in Escolta, Pandacan and Santo Bañez… focus revolved around Marikina City because it is most susceptible to flooding because it is a valley, with its Marikina River collecting water from the Sierra Madre mountain ranges on the east and the Quezon City Capitol Hills on the west. The Metroplan underscored a combination of infrastructure projects, consisting of the Napindan Hydraulic Control Structure, the Rosario Weir, and the Manggahan Floodway, the Marikina Flood Control Structure, the Marikina Dam and the Parañaque Spillway. The Napindan Hydraulic Control Structure at the confluence of Marikina and Pateros-Taguig rivers with Pasig River, was envisioned to prevent or lessen the increase of salinity from Manila Bay and pollution from the Pasig River itself from entering Laguna de Bay during times of reverse flow…

“The Rosario Weir is the sluice or floodgate from the Marikina River onto the Manggahan Floodway. …The Manggahan Floodway, on the other hand, was proposed and built to keep the floodwaters out of Metro Manila, particularly in Pasig and Marikina, by diverting the flow to Laguna de Bay. The floodway was completed in 1986. What the Parañaque Spillway was all about is exactly the answer Palafox[9] gave to his own question ‘What if Laguna de Bay overflows?’ The spillway to be situated further southeast of Makati, was supposed to have been built to siphon runoff from Laguna de Bay when it overtops, onto Manila Bay and the South China Sea. Why it was urgent and absolutely essential is now what typhoon Ondoy has fatally confirmed…

“The construction of the Parañaque Spillway ought to have been started as early as 1986 but that was the year President Marcos was overthrown by the People Power Revolution. Now who was the president at that time? Why it was Mrs. Corazon Aquino, may her soul rest in peace, but dear Lord, she dropped the ball on the Parañaque Spillway! She justified her decision saying that the project would have been very expensive as it would cut through middle class subdivisions. In truth, I wish I could buy that reason. I mean what was in vogue those days was for the Aquino government to destroy and put into oblivion everything that has the Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos brand on it. Well this issue would have been buried with her until Palafox started opening his mouth… the only other time the Parañaque Spillway provoked another round of discussion was 14 years after it was mothballed by the Aquino administration. In November 2000, a forum sponsored by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science in cooperation with the Tokyo Institute of Technology, the University of the Philippines and De La Salle University, once again raised yellow flags about the Integrated Manila Bay-Laguna Lake System and the Surrounding Watersheds. There Dr. Leonardo Liongson of the University of the Philippines Department of Civil Engineering said that which the Aquino administration endorsed instead… was a ring dike system.”[10]

It would not be right to just blame everything on the government unpreparedness for an “act of God,” especially by a global warming induced large amount of rainfall brought by a typhoon Ondoy. But when government could have prevented the floods with a proper Paranaque spillway or a Marikina dam to address these “occasional” catastrophic rainfall or over-sized overflows, the country may as well benefit from hard earned lessons not to repeat mistakes, debacles or catastrophes by carrying out infrastructure plans no matter who conceptualized them. It is criminal to let such stupid decision-makers waste invaluable resources spent on long-term projects meant to address the peoples’ energy needs or environmental protection/ prevention from such calamities. However, when the rabid supporters of past debacle-prone decision-makers still want to distort history by making them saints or heroes—or even rewarding their mistakes by insisting their scions lead the nation to perpetuate their legacies, it is doubly-wrong for people to acquiesce and permit the country go back into so much misery & despair.

CCA’s New Democracy Legacy

The worse legacy that CCA bequeathed to the Filipino People is the current state of political affairs. When the Pilipino people realized that a know-nothing can become the president of the country, anybody who believes he knows something, even the unqualified, believes that he should hold a government position—so long as they popularly elected.  This is the tyranny of democratic legacy of CCA. The Philippine political landscape, especially the Senate, has now become a bastion of movie/media/entertainment industry—comedians, actors, basketball players, and newscasters (readers of news), husbands of popular movie actresses, notorious coup-plotters and scions of trapos. The Senate’s legislative output in terms of quality has seriously diminished where grandstanding witch-hunts for media-exposure-hype is the name of the game. Gone are the high-level debates of statesmen of yesteryears; today’s senate debates are character mud-slinging attacks and arrogant misuse of warrant of arrests. Gone are when competence, brains, experience in public service and integrity are qualities desired for senator. Everyone now just wants to be elected to enrich or keep themselves in power like Cory’s new democracy people. CCA should not entirely be blamed for this state of affairs, since Marcos & company started the tradition, and CCA’s just continued the practice. So, how will the Pilipino people get rid of this state of affairs?

The answer to this is simple; amend the Constitution and put qualifier provisions that only the deserving get to be allowed to run as president. Likewise, only those who meaningfully contribute to the Philippine society, treasury & government be allowed to vote; disenfranchise those who fight the government like the terrorists, secessionists, plunderers, outlaw-criminals and tax-evaders.

CCA’s Other Legacies (Hacienda Luisita, Noynoy, ABS-CBN, Etc.)

On November 16, 2004, protesting Hacienda Luisita tenants were killed by Hacienda guards rumored to have been led by her son, Senator Noynoy C Aquino. The blood summary for this violent dispersal of CCA’s Hacienda Luisita are 14 killed, including two children aged 2 and 5years old; one victim strangled after being shot & his dead body hanged in the factory gate; at least 35 people sustained gunshot wounds; 133 arrested & detained; hundreds were wounded; and another hundred are still missing. The cause of the Hacienda Luisita Massacre was cheating (thru her the stock option scheme) & denying her own tenants the land that have tilled which was granted by the CARL-the center piece legislation of her administration. Cory’s true human rights colors are now revealed where her interests are ensuring or keeping the Cojuangco-Aquino oligarchic wealth intact. With the Mendiola Massacre and its whitewash to her name, CCA has actually two (2) massacres to her credit. Where are the hosannas to Saint Cory raised by the Church, ABS-CBN & her rabid yellow supporters?

The Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino diehards are foisting CCA’s son that he is a chip of the old block, the scion of a martyred politician father and a saintly mother-president, and Senator Noynoy Aquino will lead the country to a better future as his mother did. With his lackluster performance as a congressman & a senator plus the very poor track record of his mother, the country is doomed as a congressman remarked. He is no guarantee that he can be better than his parents combined; his record is sterling proof that he is no better than his mother. Even his mother, CCA, knows how unprepared he is to handle the Philippine presidency when she cautioned that he should finish at least one senate term before going for a higher position. The CCA diehards are pushing the same Carmelite spiritual retreat scenario prior to his declaration to run for presidency, and the same Senator Gerardo Roxas/ Mar Roxas backing down for Senator Ninoy/Noynoy Aquino presidential bid. The old adage says, “You can fool the people some of the time, but you cannot fool the people all of the time.” Everyone knows that both Senators Noynoy & Mar scions of old political families and therefore are really TRAPOS to the core protecting their vested oligarchic interests, and are now packaged as the new saviors of Philippine democracy.

Now, Noynoy wants to become president to continue what her mother had done—to protect the Cojuangco-Aquino vested interests. Noynoy promises to rectify the Hacienda Luisita injustice, since he is involved in the Hacienda Luisita travesty perpetuated by his oligarchic mother. He must address this issue to be a credible candidate. The terrible human rights record being attributed to current President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) actually stems from the aforementioned Hacienda Luisita Massacre of 2004. CCA and GMA were former allies in the ouster of President Joseph E Estrada (JEE). They parted ways when GMA sided with the poor tenants and went against the CCA Hacienda Luisita ‘stock option’ exemption from the CARL in 2005[11]. After this, GMA became a persona non-grata to CCA, and CCA fanatic supporters & propaganda machinery (ABS-CBN & allied lackeys) turned against her with all they can blame on GMA & her husband, maligning them with innuendos & rumors, that they had effectively used on oustering Marcos.

ABS-CBN was the former Lopez radio-TV media outfit allegedly confiscated by Marcos during Martial Law; Marcos people claim it was bought or arm-twisted from the Lopezes for not paying taxes. Vice-president Eugenio Lopez was a former Marcos ally at the start of FM’s presidency in 1965. CCA returned ABS-CBN to the Lopezes lock stock & barrel after the February 1986 People Power revolution, so the Lopezes owe President CCA a huge political favor. This political debt is being repaid by having CCA’s daughter, Kris Aquino, as a mainstay of ABS-CBN and by the backing of CCA’s son, Senator Noynoy Aquino for his presidential bid packaged as a new savior of Philippine democracy.

During the typhoon’s onslaught, this anti-government media station and its know-it-all newscasters dictated & meddled on NDCC disaster evacuation-relief operations. Instead of informing, assisting, & facilitating efforts, they ventured out & glorified their own endeavors while using government trucks, soldiers, personnel & resources. They used their media facilities to cajole & inveigle from kind-hearted people & firms for cash donations, clothes, goods & foodstuffs supposedly for relief & distribution to evacuation centers without accounting for how these donations are actually disbursed or dispensed. ABS-CBN should be audited by Commission on Audit for the disaster funds & goods received to remove any doubts of their misuse such as salaries/ bonuses of ABS-CBN personnel or purchase of new media equipment at the expense of real typhoon victims.

CCA & the People Power Big Lie

No one has written about the truth that happened to the country in February 1986 due to the lie perpetuated by the victors of the People Power Revolution and those who profited from it, and who are still around in positions of power or influence. No one has written about the role played by the US government in the ouster of Marcos.  Who convinced FM to go on a special election? Who convinced FM to cut out & cut clean? Who convinced the loyal generals to go on a ceasefire with the 1986 mutineers? Who brokered the ceasefire & immediate cessation of hostile fire between the loyalist soldiers & the mutineers? Nobody has written about the 1984 Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS- the Washington think-tank for the Pentagon & US Govt) Georgetown University Assessment Study on the need to ouster FM two (2) years before the people power revolution.[12] Who placed classified ads for destabilization operations in the Philippines at the Soldier of Fortune Magazine in 1984?[13] Who transported the Marcos entourage & baggage to Hawaii? Who were the unnamed US military/intelligence personnel, who were observed to be advising Col Honasan & the RAM mutineers at Camp Aguinaldo, Ramos men at Camp Crame and were back-channeling with FM loyalist commanders at Fort Bonifacio? What happened on the Feb 25, 1986 at Fort Bonifacio that caused the loss/collapse of loyalist military support for Marcos thereat? Who were the US bigwigs conferring with the Marcos & Aquino camps? Who were calling or coordinating the shots? All of them are from Washington.

The US government will neither confirm nor deny their key participation in 1986 removal of FM, their favorite puppet-ally of the Vietnam War. The CIA is just smiling at the gullibility of Filipinos about the EDSA People Power revolution story and the unheralded triumph of US official policy in its successful removal of a staunched US supporter-embarrassment-ally. After their successful change of the head of the Philippine government, the US would not allow the change their new puppet head of government by a military coup; CCA was easier to handle than some maverick military junta whose loyalty US would not be sure of; so the military adventurists seven (7) coup attempts against CCA were doomed without US support. The November 1969 military coup against CCA nearly succeeded if not for the USAF reassurance flights that stymied the military coup plotters. The opposition/leftist-instigated impeachment of GMA efforts with military coup backing will never prosper without US patronage. Or if the opposition would really like to successfully impeach GMA, they should get rid of leftist allies & secure US support.

To make a true simple historical statement, it was the US Government that removed President Ferdinand Marcos; they schemed, planned, and removed the Philippine dictator from power, for which Filipinos thought they booted FM out to exile. The Americans had the means and resources to take FM out of the country and they did. It was not the Cardinal Sin & the Catholic Church, nor the people at EDSA, nor the political opposition under CCA, nor the AFP RAM mutineers, nor their political sponsors. This is a historical fact and not one People Power book has written nor acknowledges this. The US government machinated this whole mumbo-jumbo called people power democratic revolution that the Cory Aquino’s propaganda people triumphantly peddled to the Pilipino people as its own.

The Cojuangco-Aquino oligarchic yellow mafia is extensive, fanatic, influential, cunning and ruthless. They will defend at all costs all the lies, the history of hypocrisy & deception and all their sequestered & hidden wealth that they have been getting away with. They have bishops, nuns & religious congregations that have benefitted from the Cojuangco-Aquino regime to mask the truth about their own abuse of power & wealth. The Church influence over CCA has the runaway overpopulation problem that the country is quagmire in. Her bleeding-heart sycophants have saddled us with the uncontrollable squatter & garbage problems that has mushroomed & clogged our waterways and caused terrible floods. Her political allies have exploited them as a political mass base for votes & issues; yet have not done anything to uplift their lives & welfare.  Her Hacienda Luisita is shining example of their concern for the poor & the masses. CCA’s advisers have given us no alternatives to address our energy needs that ruined the economy. Their advice & example are destructive & de-unifying with civil disobedience, mutiny, coup d-eats, massacres & white-wash, big lie propaganda and wealth accumulation for power retention. They have judges, police, military, senators, congressmen, ruthless city mayors, corrupt columnists, paid hacks, etc. So in what way are they different from Marcos, his ilk and their use of government and power? Have there not been enough of trapos in Philippine history & society. They have deceived us once and so many times. Will we allow ourselves the same despair, corruption in government, hypocrisy and frustrations we have previously experienced? By their righteous revenge angle & deceptive media and their spirit of injustice & hypocrisy, the Philippines under Corazon Cojuangco Aquino was beset by a record of calamities, natural & man-made disasters that the country retrogressed that despair permeated the archipelago. Will Philippine History repeat itself? Can the Philippines survive as a nation another six years with another Cojuangco-Aquino at the helm of the Ship of State?  Only God can save the Philippines, should this thing happen.

[This essay is written & dedicated to the Pilipino Youth, who were not around during the Marcos and Aquino eras when the youth was exploited by traditional politicians (or trapos) and now by their scions and rabid supporters.]

[2] Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Chapter III- Attack by Strategy,…,a ruler can bring misfortune upon his army:…By attempting to govern an army in the same way as he administers his kingdom, being ignorant of the conditions  which obtains in an army. This causes restlessness (confusion)in the soldiers’ minds….when an army is restless & distrustful, trouble is sure to come…This is simply bringing anarchy into the army, and flinging victory away

[3]Pres. Marcos bloodied his hand when five (5) students were killed in the January 30, 1970 student leftist attack on Malacanang Palace; but Cory’s hand is bloodier with a bigger number of deaths.

[4] Mendiola Massacre,  GMA News-TV. Wikipedia Encyclopedia

[5] Phil Sports Stadium Stampede, Wikipedia Encyclopedia

[6] Pres. Marcos owns the Corregidor or Jabidah Massacre with 28-60deaths; Pres. CCA has the Mendiola   Massacre & the Hacienda Luisita Massacre to her credit with a combined total of 27killed, 73sustained gunshot wounds, and 100 missing.

[7] Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, Wikipedia Encyclopedia

[8] Daily Tribune, Columnist Herman Tiu Laurel’s article, “The Yellow Lady of the Floods” on 10 Oct 2009

[9] Architect Felino Palafox Jr ,Business Mirror Online Space article ”Government Study foresaw flood- Palafox” by Dennis Estopace, Business Mirror issuedated28 September 2009

[10] Adolfo Paglinawan, Internet, Daily Tribune, Columnist Herman Tiu Laurel’s article, “The Yellow Lady of the Floods” on 10 Oct 2009

[11] Hacienda Luisita, Inquirer.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

[12] Strategic Requirements for the Army to the Year 2000, Edited by Robert H Kupperman &William J Taylor, Jr./Center for Strategic & International Studies, Lexington Books D.C. Heath & CO, Lexington, Massachusetts Toronto

[13] Soldier of Fortune Magazine, Classified Ads, Series of 1980s

Everytime I return to Philippines, family and relatives always visit Manaoag, Pangasinan. A long drive  from Pampanga to Pangasinan is quite exhausting. Body starts to feel heavy. Arms and legs are getting  tired too. Wait! Something is wrong! I cannot feel my round chubby buns! It is numbed! Iyada ne kono kimochi!

Hacienda Luisita ghosts back to haunt Noynoy candidacy

11/16/2009 | 08:04 PM

First of two parts

Would you like your Noynoy sweetened or sugar-free?

Until Senator Noynoy Cojuangco Aquino decided to run for President on September 9, 2009, the massacre of farm workers exactly five years ago today at the Cojuangco family’s disputed sugar plantation Hacienda Luisita seemed destined to fade from foggy Filipino memory.

Since that announcement, however, the dead farmers’ fight to make the senator’s family give up the Luisita sugar lands in the name of land reform is back in the headlines.

Why are the ghosts of the Luisita massacre now haunting Senator Aquino, who, by his own estimate, holds only 1/32 share of the hacienda, and has no direct hand in its operations?

In search of answers, GMANews.TV traveled to Tarlac and spoke to some farm workers and one of Luisita’s union leaders. A separate interview and review of court documents was then conducted with one of the lawyers representing the workers’ union in the Supreme Court.

What follows is their side of the Luisita saga. Recaps of relevant historical events have been included by GMANews.TV for added perspective.

The workers’ story begins way before the first shot was fired on November 16, 2004. For them, the seeds of conflict in Luisita were already there as early as the 1950s, and always seemed to be linked to the mood of whoever occupied Malacañang.

Remnant of colonialism

Before the Cojuangco family took over Hacienda Luisita in the 1950s, the plantation belonged to the Spanish-owned Compaña General de Tabacos de Filipinas (Tabacalera). Tabacalera acquired the land in 1882 through a royal grant from the Spanish crown, which had a self-appointed claim on the lands as the Philippines’ colonial master. Luisita was named after Luisa, the wife of the top official of Tabacalera.

Tobacco used to be the main crop planted in Luisita, but in the 1920s the Spanish owners shifted to sugar. Sugar production in the Philippines had become more profitable because demand was guaranteed by the US quota. In 1927, the Spaniards built the sugar mill Central Azucarera de Tarlac to accompany their sugarcane plantation. Around the same year, the wealthy Cojuangco family also put up a small sugar mill in Paniqui, Tarlac. The Paniqui sugar mill was headed by Jose “Pepe” Cojuangco, Sr., father of former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino.

In 1958, Jose Cojuangco Sr.’s new company, the Tarlac Development Corporation, bought Hacienda Luisita and Central Azucarera de Tarlac from its previous Spanish owners. Noynoy Aquino’s father, Ninoy, was its first administrator after it was bought. Scott Kho

Dollars, Ninoy, and the purchase of Luisita

By the 1950s, aggravation over the Hukbalahap rebellion made the Spaniards decide to sell Hacienda Luisita and leave the Philippines. Meanwhile, in 1954, Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco married Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr. , with President Ramon Magsaysay as one of the ninongs (sponsor) at the wedding.

In 1957, President Magsaysay and Ninoy Aquino are said to have discussed the possibility of Ninoy’s father-in-law, Jose Cojuangco, Sr., buying Central Azucarera de Tarlac and Hacienda Luisita from the Spaniards. The Spaniards, however, wanted to be paid in dollars because they were leaving the country for good.

During those days, dollars were tightly regulated. But with assistance from friends in government, Jose Cojuangco, Sr. was able to get a 10-year loan from the Manufacturer’s Trust Company in New York. The Central Bank of the Philippines permitted the loan under several conditions. One of these was the eventual distribution of the hacienda to small farmers “in line with the government’s social justice program”.

Jose Cojuangco, Sr. contracted another loan with the GSIS (Government Service Insurance System) for P7 million to further finance the purchase of Hacienda Luisita and miscellaneous equipment. The GSIS granted the loan, also tacking on a condition that Hacienda Luisita should at some point be distributed among its tenants at reasonable cost.

In 1958, Jose Cojuangco, Sr.’s new company, the Tarlac Development Corporation (TADECO) became the new owner of Hacienda Luisita and Central Azucarera de Tarlac. Ninoy Aquino was appointed the hacienda’s first administrator.

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Ang pagkakaintindi ng mga ninuno naming manggagawang-bukid ng Hacienda Luisita noon, within 10 years, babayaran na ng mga Cojuangco ang utang nila sa gubyerno. Pagdating ng 1967, ang lupa ay sa magsasaka na

– Lito Bais, United Luisita Workers Union

---

Birth of a senator and a labor union

“Ang pagkakaintindi ng mga ninuno naming manggagawang-bukid ng Hacienda Luisita noon, within 10 years, babayaran na [ng mga Cojuangco] ang utang nila sa gubyerno. Pagdating ng 1967, ang lupa ay sa magsasaka na (The way our elders, the farmers of Hacienda Luisita, understood things at that time, within 10 years, the Cojuangcos were going to pay back the money they borrowed from the government. By 1967, the land would belong to the farmers),” says Lito Bais, one of the present-day leaders of the United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU). He was born on the hacienda in 1957, the year before the Cojuangco family took over. His mother was also born on the hacienda.

When 1967 came and went with no land distribution taking place, the farm workers began to organize themselves to uphold their cause. This led to the creation of the United Luisita Workers Union. 1967 was also the year Ninoy Aquino became the Philippines’ youngest senator, marking the start of his bitter rivalry with President Ferdinand Marcos.

After President Marcos declared Martial Law in 1972, his most voluble critic Aquino was one of the first people arrested. Aquino remained in jail until 1980, when he suffered a heart attack. He was allowed by the Marcos government to go to the US for treatment, accompanied by wife Cory and their children Ballsy, Pinky, Noynoy, Viel, and Kris.

Marcos ejects Ninoy, eyes Luisita

As the Aquino family left for the US (where they would remain in exile for the next three years), a case was filed by the Marcos government against the Cojuangco company TADECO for the surrender of Hacienda Luisita to the Ministry of Agrarian Reform, so the land could be distributed to the farmers in accordance with the provisions of the loans given to the late Jose Cojuangco, Sr. in 1957. Cojuangco had died in 1976.

Outside Luisita, this lawsuit was seen as an act of harassment against Ninoy Aquino’s family by the Marcos government. Inside the hacienda, however, the farmers thought luck had finally turned in their favor and land distribution was coming. (Whether or not the Marcos government really intended to distribute the hacienda to the farmers is a matter for conspiracy theorists to decide.)

SUGAR AND POLITICS. Truckloads of newly harvested sugarcane await delivery to the Luisita’s sugar mill. For the hacienda’s farm workers, the seeds of conflict were already there as early as the 1950s, and always seemed linked to the mood of whoever occupied Malacañang. Scott Kho

According to Bais, the widow of Jose Cojuangco, Sr., Demetria Sumulong Cojuangco, fought to keep the hacienda. “Inilaban ni Doña Metring, yung nanay nila Cory, na wala raw silang inabutan na tao [sa hacienda], kaya wala raw benipesyaryo, kaya ang lupang ito ay sa kanila (Doña Metring, the mother of Cory, said there were no tenants in the hacienda when they took over, therefore there were no beneficiaries, therefore the land belonged to them),” he says. “E, tignan mo naman ang lupang ito. Paano mapapatag ang lupang ito? Paano makapag-tanim kung walang taong inabutan? (But look at this land. How else could this land have been tamed? How could it have been cultivated if there were no people here when they took over?)”

In the meantime, vague rumors of a planned conversion of the hacienda into a residential subdivision or airport, or both, cropped up among the farm workers. (This was possibly due to the decline of the sugar industry in the Philippines after the US quota ended in the 1970s. Conversion became a buzzword among big landowners all over the country. In Negros, for instance, landlords were mulling conversion to prawn or bangus farms.)

The Marcos government pursued its case against the Cojuangcos, and by December 1985, the Manila Regional Trial Court ordered TADECO to surrender Hacienda Luisita to the Ministry of Agrarian Reform. The Cojuangcos elevated the case to the Court of Appeals.

Cory ejects Marcos, keeps Luisita

That same month, December 1985, President Marcos announced snap elections would be held on February 7, 1986. Cory Aquino, now a widow after Ninoy Aquino was assassinated in 1983, was fielded by her late husband’s allies to run for president against Marcos.

The elections took place in February 1986 amid an atmosphere of violence and accusations of massive cheating. Marcos was declared winner, but was subsequently ousted by the People Power revolution. Cory Aquino was sworn in as president. Her revolutionary government dissolved Marcos’s 1973 constitution to pave the way for drafting a new constitution. Land reform, one of the pillars of Cory Aquino’s election campaign, was to be a highlight of the new constitution.

Mendiola, a portent of the Luisita massacre

On January 22, 1987, eleven months into the Aquino administration, the Mendiola massacre happened. Several thousand frustrated farmers marched to Malacañang demanding fulfillment of the promises made regarding land reform during the Aquino campaign, and distribution of lands at no cost to beneficiaries. Police tried to disperse the farmers, but the situation went out of control. At least one dozen farmers died on the spot. Many more were seriously injured.

President Cory is said to have fast-tracked the finalization of the land reform law because she was deeply affected by this tragedy. The new 1987 constitution took effect in February, the month following the Mendiola massacre, and five months later, on July 1987, President Cory signed an executive order outlining the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law. She expanded the coverage of land reform to include sugar lands.

The outline of the new law also included a provision for the Stock Distribution Option (SDO), a mode of complying with the land reform law that did not require actual physical transfer of land.

Stage is set for “SDO”

By May 1988, the Court of Appeals dismissed the case filed in 1980 by the Philippine government—under Marcos—against TADECO to compel the handover of Hacienda Luisita. It was the Philippine government itself—this time under Aquino—that filed the motion to dismiss its own case against TADECO, saying the lands of Hacienda Luisita were going to be distributed anyway through the agrarian reform law.

A month after the case was dismissed, in June 1988, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law took effect. The provision for SDO that it included would be availed of by the management of Hacienda Luisita and about ten other haciendas around the country. Through the SDO, the requirements of the agrarian reform law can be addressed without a direct transfer of land to tenants.

Conflict over the SDO would trigger the November 16, 2004 massacre of farmers in Hacienda Luisita fifteen years later.

To be continued..

Unang nalathala noong Enero 2004

Maaaring idownload, ireproduce, bigkasin sa mga pagtitipon.

http://rapidshare.com/files/307758932/km64_chap6_kabyawan_ver._2.pdf

Note:

Five years ago, on November 16, 2004, 8 striking workers died, 200 others were injured and 120 farm workers and activists were arrested after the violent dispersal of striking farmworkers in Hacienda Luisita. The dispersal was due to an order by then Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas on Nov.16 on behalf of the Cojuangco family through the much abused pro-landlord and pro-capitalist tool known as Assumption of Jurisdiction (AJ).

Today, five years later, Hacienda Luisita, Inc (HLI) remains in the hands of one of the biggest landlords in the country– the Cojuangcos. Even if DAR and PARC has resolved that the SDO (Stock Distribution Option) be revoked and the lands be distributed to farmers, the Conjuangco family, though a Supreme Court ruling, was able to get a TRO on SDO. With regards the criminal liabilities, the Ombudsman has absolved all civilian officials involved in the HLI massacre, and all cases against military and police agents are still pending in court.

As such, the farmers in HLI and the national federation of peasants in the Philippines, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, along with other support oranizations, vowed to continue the fight in all arenas of struggle for ‘land to the tillers’ or genuine agrarian reform and social justice.

Read: The Continuing Saga of the Farmworkers of Hacienda Luisita

source: http://bit.ly/17V8hO

Let the Video do the talking and serve as an Evidence of the Truth.

]]> http://luisitamagsasaka.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/11-16-ang-ugat-ng-hacienda-luisita/ Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:06:19 +0000 luisitamagsasaka http://luisitamagsasaka.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/11-16-ang-ugat-ng-hacienda-luisita/

]]> http://luisitamagsasaka.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/straight-from-conrado-de-quiroz/ Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:03:24 +0000 luisitamagsasaka http://luisitamagsasaka.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/straight-from-conrado-de-quiroz/

Before he went all loveydovey on Noynoy Aquino, Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist Conrado de Quiroz had the truth down pat. Let’s go back to his 2004 piece and see the sad plight of the Hacienda Luisita serfs. Thanks to Renato Reyes for this eye-opener for those who continue to believe Noy is heaven-sent. Let’s spread this so that people may know! JUSTICE TO THE HACIENDA LUISITA MASSACRE VICTIMS! NO TO A NOYNOY AQUINO PRESIDENCY!

Conrado de Quiros on Noynoy and the Luisita Massacre

The following was a piece written by Inquirer columnist Conrado de Quiros, which appeared on November 22, 2004 in the Inquirer, six days after the Luisita Massacre. (de Quiros is now a staunch supporter of Aquino’s presidential bid)

There’s The Rub: Broke
By Conrado de Quiros
Inquirer News Service

Note: Published on page A14 of the November 22, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

“HERE is a land in which a few are spectacularly rich while the masses remain abjectly poor. Gleaming suburbia clashes with the squalor of the slums. Here is a land consecrated to democracy but run by an entrenched plutocracy. Here, too, are a people whose ambitions run high, but whose fulfillment is low and mainly restricted to the self-perpetuating elite. Here is a land of privilege and rank-a republic dedicated to equality but mired in an archaic system of caste.”

The one who said this was not Ka Paeng or Ka Pepe, it was Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino. He said this in an article in 1968 in the US journal Foreign Affairs. This was typical of what politicians and radicals alike were saying before martial law, particularly to warn that the country was a “social volcano” all set to explode. Aquino himself suggested the way by which the explosion might be averted: “The wealth that the oligarchy rapaciously covets and hoards must get down to the masses in the form of roads, bridges and schools; these are what the tao understands as good or bad government.”

I remarked in the book “Dead Aim”: “Caught in the rapture of his eloquence, Aquino forgot that his in-laws owned a hacienda that stretched as far as the eye could see. And one that would remain untouched by land reform two decades later.”

The past comes back to haunt. As indeed do Cory’s own words, when she promised during the “snap elections” that the first thing she would do was subject Hacienda Luisita to land reform. What a difference a month makes, which was all the time it took from the “snap elections” to Cory replacing Marcos, which turned out to be a sea change not just in the political landscape of the nation but in the moral outlook of the new governors. That was all the time it took for Cory to forget her vow.

Hacienda Luisita will always be a festering sore. It will always be the symbol of the failure of Edsa to move the country from tyranny to democracy, if by democracy is also meant-as Ninoy argued-the pushing back of oligarchic rule. You can’t have a more oligarchic rule than feudal rule, which takes place in Hacienda Luisita notwithstanding its seemingly capitalist conversion into an industrial enclave. All the conversion shows is that, as in the days of the feudal manor, serfs are owned by their landlords body and soul. They can be told to do anything, including to agree to “stock option.” Their well-being is a matter of manorial beneficence. They have no more power to determine the future of Hacienda Luisita, or their share of its profits, than beggars have the power to determine the amount of alms they can get from prospective donors.

Noynoy Aquino says leftists goaded the workers in Hacienda Luisita, who have been complaining about their lot, to strike. Well, so what? At the very least, try goading workers who have no deep-seated grievance to strike and see how far you’ll get-these days, particularly, when work is harder to come by than honesty in GMA’s government. May be leftists goaded the workers in Hacienda Luisita to strike-I can believe it-but they could not have succeeded if the workers were not ripe for the goading.

At the very most, workers have a right to strike. One would imagine congressmen would know that. A strike is neither illegal nor immoral, it is sanctioned by the Constitution and enshrined in the tradition of the workers’ movement. Only Lucio Tan and now Ninoy’s namesake think it is not.

While at this, if leftists had not goaded workers, farmers, students and other sectors to mount national strikes, or “welgang bayan,” during martial law, the Aquinos would not be there. It was the efforts of the leftists to goad Filipinos to fight sleep in the early years of martial law that assured they would be awake to react to the murder of Ninoy much later.

Cory cannot understand why the workers refuse to accept her offer of sympathy and prayers for the dead? Well, if I recall right, Cesar Virata had to scurry away from Sto. Domingo Church after conveying to her the sympathy and prayers of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos for the death of her husband. He feared being torn limb from limb. The sympathy and prayers of the one who caused you grief are never welcome. The life of Ninoy is not more important than the lives of the 14 workers who died in the blaze of gunfire from goons in the uniforms of cops and soldiers last Tuesday. Other than in oligarchic reckoning, which deems the lives of serfs as nothing compared to that of the lord of the manor.

“If it ain’t broke,” says Department of Agrarian Reform chief Rene Villa, “why fix it?” That is his reaction to calls for a review of the “stock option” plan.

What, the corpses of 14 workers strewn over a dusty road in Hacienda Luisita are not a sign something is broke? Again, maybe it’s true leftists goaded the workers to strike. But as I wrote a long time ago, when Isidro Cariño, then the education secretary, said the same thing about the 3,000 public school teachers who went on strike against him, and vowed to hunt the goaders down, the words of leftists are nothing compared to the flailing of hunger. And hunger has no address.

But the 14 corpses lying on the ground point to something broke that’s even bigger than that Hacienda Luisita hasn’t been land-reformed. That is, that the foundations of democracy in this country are crumbling. No, more than that, that is, that the moral foundations of this country are crashing. Power has made people forget what it means to lose a loved one to tyranny.

Ninoy Aquino might have been talking of today when he said: “Here is a land consecrated to democracy but run by an entrenched plutocracy. Here is a land of privilege and rank-a republic dedicated to equality but mired in an archaic system of caste.”

If that ain’t broke, what is?

Author: Renato Reyes Jr.

Draft Primer hinggil sa Luisita massacre na sinulat ni Lisa Ito apat na taon na ang nakaraan
(di ko na mahanap yung Final PDF file nito eh)

Para sa mga manggagawang bukid ng Hacienda Luisita, take-home pay na P9.50* kada linggo ang kapalit ng daantaong pagbubungkal nila at ng kanilang mga ninuno sa lupaing inangkin ng mga Cojuangco. Para naman sa amo nilang ganid sa tubo, tila P9.50 lang rin ang halaga ng buhay na nilagas ng bala noong ika-16 ng Nobyembre 2004 — halagang ‘di sasapat upang makabili ng isang lata ng sardinas, o kaha ng sigarilyong Fortune.

Ano nga ba ang tunay na halaga ng paggawa, lupa at karapatang-pantao? Timbangin natin kung bakit makatarungan ang pag-aaklas ang masang anakpawis sa halip na magtiis sa buhay-barya.

KAKAPUSAN NG KARAMIHAN = KASAGANAAN NG IILAN

Nobyembre 6, 2004 nang simulan ang welga sa Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT), ang pinakamalaking pagawaan ng asukal sa buong Luzon. Bunsod ito ng umiiral na kalagayan sa asyenda kung saan matutunghayan ang karangyaan ng iilan samantalang kasalatan naman sa kabuhayan ng nakararami.

Ang mga sumusunod ay napapaloob sa 6,453 ektaryang asyenda na pag-aari ng angkan ng Cojuangco-Aquino, isa sa pinakamakapangyarihang pamilya sa ekonomiya at pulitika sa Pilipinas:
• 4,915.75 ektaryang lupaing agrikultural
• Ang CAT, kung saan pinoproseso ang tubo upang gawing asukal matapos ang kabyawan (anihan)
• Mga istruktura tulad ng Mall, 70-ektaryang Golf Course,at 500-ektaryang Industrial Park
• ‘Di bababa sa limang malalaking kompanya na humahawak sa iba’t ibang negosyo sa asyenda

Sa mga ito kumakamal ng sagad-sagarang tubo ang mga Cojuangco. Ngunit nananatiling maralita ang masang tagalikha ng yamang kanilang tinatamasa: mga manggagawa at manggagawang-bukid na walang lupa.

• Ang mga manggagawang-bukid na bumubuo sa kalakhan ng lakas-paggawa ng asyenda ay sumasahod ng P194 lamang kada araw, at pinahihintulutang magtrabaho nang isa hanggang dalawang araw lamang kada linggo. Dahil sa pagkakabaon sa utang, madalas ay P9.50 na lamang ang aktwal na naiuuwing sahod.

MAKATARUNGANG WELGA = PANDARAHAS NG ESTADO

‘Di-makataong pasahod, kawalan ng benepisyo, at pagsupil ng awtoridad ang tumatahi sa pinagsanib na laban ng dalawang unyon sa asyenda. Magkasunod na nag-welga ang ULWU o United Luisita Workers Union (unyon ng mga manggagawang-bukid) at ang CATLU o Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (unyon ng mga manggagawa ng azucarera) dahil sa union-busting at pagmamatigas ng management ng Hacienda Luisita Incorporated (HLI) sa negosasyon para sa isang makabuluhang Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Ang mga makatarungang HILING ng mga unyon mula sa management:

CATLU
• P100 across-the-board wage increase
• Signing Bonus
• Gratuity Pay

ULWU
• Pagtaas sa sahod
• Libreng serbisyo mula sa St. Martin de Porres Hospital ng CAT
• Mga benepisyong tulad ng Christmas at Service bonus

Ang TUGON ng pamilya Cojuangco at ng mga kasabwat nila:

• Tuso at sapilitang pagtanggal ng management sa 327 manggagawang-bukid, kasama ang mga lider ng ULWU at pakikipagsabwatan sa iilang bayarang indibidwal sa CAT.

• “Assumption of Jurisdiction” order na nagpapatunay na kasangkot ang Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), sa pangunguna ni Sec. Patricia Sto. Tomas na buwagin ang welga at dahasin ang mga manggagawa.

• Panghihimasok ng Northern Luzon Command ng AFP sa usaping sibilyan

• Masaker ng mga manggagawang-bukid – Ang nabigong limang beses na tangkang pagbuwag ng mga pulis at militar sa piketlayn gamit ang water cannon, tear gas, truncheon, at baril. Humantong ito sa pagkakapaslang ng pitong welgista noong hapon ng Nobyembre 16, 2004. Nagpapatuloy ang pandarahas at pamamaslang sa pangunguna ng mga militar at mga bayarang goons. Disyembre 8, pinaslang ang Tagapangulo ng Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Tarlac, si Ka Marcing na susing testigo sa naganap na masaker.

ANO ANG MGA UMIIRAL NA KALAGAYAN NA NAGBUNSOD NG PAG-AAKLAS SA HACIENDA LUISITA? KAWALAN NG LUPA

Ang mga magbubukid na daantaong nagbungkal ng lupain ng Compania General de Tabacos de Filipinas (TABACALERA) — ang mga ninuno ng mga manggagawang-bukid ng Hacienda Luisita — ang tunay na may-ari ng lupa sa asyenda.

Ngunit ang lupain ng asyenda ay patuloy na inaangkin ng mga Cojuangco sa pamamagitan ng mga sumusunod:

1. ISTORIKAL AT ILIGAL NA PANGANGAMKAM SA LUPA
Noong 1957, binili ni Jose Cojuangco, Sr. ang CAT at ang Hacienda Luisita mula sa TABACALERA gamit ang pera ng mamamayan bilang puhunan: utang mula sa Government Service Insurance System at Manufacturers’ Trust Company sa New York. Ang huli ay ginarantiya ng international reserve ng bansa na inaprubahan ng Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas sa kondisyong ipapamahagi ito sa maliliit na magsasaka. Lumipas ang ilang dekada ngunit hindi tinupad ang napagkasunduang pamamahagi ng lupa sa mga magbubukid.Nang maging Pangulo si Corazon Cojuangco Aquino noong 1986, nakaiwas ang kanyang pamilya na ipatupad ang repormang agraryo alinsunod sa desisyon ng Manila-Regional Trial Court noong 1985. Isa sa mga inkorporador ng Tarlac Development Corporation (TADECO), ipinagtibay ni Aquino ang pag-angkin ng kanyang angkan sa asyenda sa pamamagitan ng Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) noong 1988.

2. STOCK DISTRIBUTION OPTION (SDO)
• Ano ang SDO?
Niligalisa ng CARL ang iba’t ibang anyo ng huwad na repormang agraryo katulad ng “stock transfer scheme”, kung saan sapi (shares) ang ibinibigay ng panginoong-maylupa sa halip na aktwal na pamamahagi ng lupa. Ipinatupad ang “stock transfer scheme” sa Hacienda Luisita sa ngalang SDO.
• Paano ito ipinatupad?
Itinatag ang HLI bilang spin-off corporation ng TADECO na magpapamahagi ng capital stock sa mga benepisyaryong manggagawang-bukid (“co-owners”) ayon sa stock distribution plan. Sa SDO, inalisan ang mga manggagawang-bukid ng kanilang istorikal na karapatang ariin ang lupaing binubungkal. Napilitan ang mga magbubukid na sumang-ayon sa SDO dahil sa pinagsamang panlilinlang, pananakot at pandarahas ng mga Cojuangco.
• Ano ang epekto nito?
Walang naganap na makabuluhang pagbabago sa salat na kabuhayan ng mamamayan sa 14 taong pag-iral ng SDO. Lalo silang naghirap dahil binawasan ang mandays (takdang araw ng paggawa) mula 4-5 araw hanggang 1-2 araw kada linggo mula 1990. Ito ay dulot ng patakarang land conversion at mekanisasyon. Kasabay na lumiit ang sapi nila dahil nakabatay ‘shares of stock’ sa dami ng mandays. 3. LAND CONVERSION

Unti-unti ring nagpapalit-gamit ng lupain ang asyenda upang gawing golf course, industrial park, at iba pa. Simula 1995, nireklasipika para sa kumbersyon ang 3,290 ektarya ng kabuuang 4,915 ektaryang lupaing agrikultural. Naibenta na ang 500 ektarya sa mga korporasyong Hapon. May lupaing nakalaan para sa Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway Project na nakatakdang gawin mula 2003-2005.

Itinutulak ng mga Cojuangco ang land conversion dahil malaki ang kikitain nila mula rito. Mahigpit naman itong tinututulan ng mamamayan dahil katumbas nito ang malawakan at permanenteng pagpapatalsik ng mga magbubukid at manggagawang-bukid sa kanilang sariling lupa.

Ang kasaysayan ng Hacienda Luisita ay patunay sa PAG-IRAL NG MONOPOLYONG KONTROL SA LUPA.

PAGGAWA

Kinikilala sa Konstitusyon ang karapatang magwelga ng mga manggagawa. Ngunit ito’y nilalapastangan
ng mga malaking namumuhunan sa tulong ng kanilang mga abugado at ng DOLE sa paggamit ng “Assumption of Jurisdiction” (AJ) na nakasaad sa Artikulo 263 (g) ng Labor Code at mga kontra-welgang batas-paggawa. Ginamit ang AJ mula pa noong panahon ng diktaduryang Marcos hanggang ngayon upang supilin ang mga makatarungang welga ng mga manggagawa, gaya ng nangyari sa welga ng manggagawa sa Nestle, Jac Liner at SM.

Hatol na kamatayan ang katumbas ng pagbaba ni DOLE Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas ng AJ order sa mga welgista noong Nobyembre 10, 2004. Sa pamamagitan nito at ng walang-basehang deklarasyon na ”iligal” ang welga, mistulang ipinagtanggol ni Sto. Tomas ang mga pumaslang sa mga manggagawang-bukid.

Sinasalamin ng kaso ng Hacienda Luisita ang PAG-IRAL NG MAPANUPIL NA PATAKARAN AT BATAS-PAGGAWA SA BANSA.

KARAPATANG-PANTAO

Matagal nang militarisado ang malawak na lupain ng asyenda. Ang Yellow Army na nagmula pa noong panahon ni Aquino at ang 69th Infantry Battalion ay ginamit upang maghasik ng takot sa lahat ng tumututol sa umiiral na kaayusan dito.

Kasuklam-suklam na krimen ang mga naganap na pamamaslang ng tropang militar. Pito ang namatay, mahigit 40 ang nasugatan, 114 ang iligal na inaresto, at marami pa ang nawawala hanggang ngayon. Ang di-makatwirang paggamit ng tropang militar sa pagbuwag ng welga ay nagpapakita ng sabwatan sa pagitan ng pamilya Cojuangco at ng mga opisyal ng estado. Ang Pangulo ng bansa – si Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo bilang Commander in Chief ng AFP –ang may kapangyarihang magpahintulot sa militar upang manghimasok sa asyenda.

Hindi natapos sa masaker noong Nobyembre 16 ang karahasan. Noong Disyembre 8, pinatay ng mga sundalo si Marcelino Beltran, Jr., Pangulo ng Alyansa ng Magbubukid ng Tarlac, provincial vice-chairperson ng Anakpawis, at susing testigo sa masaker. Marami pa ang naitalang kaso ng pandarahas at pananakot sa mga welgista hanggang ngayon.

Sinasalamin ng masaker sa Hacienda Luisita ang PAG-IRAL NG PASISMO AT MILITARISASYON SA KANAYUNAN.

PAG-IRAL NG NAKAKABUSABOS NA KAAYUSAN = PAGLABAN NG MAMAMAYAN

SINO ANG DAPAT MANAGOT?

• Ang AFP at PNP
• Ang pamilya Cojuangco-Aquino
• DOLE Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas
• Pang. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

ANO ANG TUNGUHIN NG ATING LABAN?

• Katarungan para sa mga biktima ng masaker sa Hacienda Luisita! Papanagutin ang mga pumaslang kina Jhaivie Basilio, Adriano Caballero, Jhune David, Jesus Laza, Jaime Pastidio, Juancho Sanchez, Jessie Valdez at Ka Marcelino Beltran!

• Singilin ang pahirap na rehimeng Arroyo, ang angkang Cojuangco-Aquino, si DOLE Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas at ang mga kasangkot nila sa PNP at AFP!
• Ipagtagumpay ang welga sa Hacienda Luisita! Suportahan ang pakikibaka ng mga manggagawa at manggagawang-bukid para sa lupa, sahod, trabaho, at karapatan. Ibalik sa trabaho ang 327 na tinanggal na manggagawang-bukid at opisyales ng ULWU! Ipaglaban at kamtin ang makatarungang CBA!
• Ibasura ang mga mapanupil na batas-paggawa at mga patakaran ng huwad na reporma sa lupa! Ipasawalang-bisa ang “Assumption of Jurisdiction” sa Labor Code at Stock Distribution Option. Itigil ang militarisasyon sa welga at kriminalisasyon sa mga pakikibakang unyon! Itigil ang pagpapalit-gamit sa lupa!
• Ipatupad ang tunay na repormang agraryo at pambansang industriyalisasyon!

By Patricia Evangelista
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:50:00 11/07/2009

THE GRASS IS YELLOW OUTSIDE THE GATES OF HACIENDA Luisita. Jesus walked here once.

His father watched him die, almost five years to this day. Nov. 16 was when close to 15,000 tenants gathered to protest their treatment under the Cojuanco-owned Hacienda Luisita. Dispersal units charged with a thousand soldiers in full battle gear. The Northern Command numbered over five hundred. Stones and shouts, water cannons, tanks that barreled into gates. It was three in the afternoon. The sun burned yellow. The father heard it first: rifle cracks, a barrage of bullets punching through bodies. Jesus died that day, one of seven reported union deaths. They tell me there are more whose names were never reported.

They called it a massacre. Sen. Benigno Aquino III called it propaganda.

On that day, Federico Laza and other farmhands loaded the 38-year-old Jesus into a tricycle. The father wept and Jesus bled. It was too late when they brought him to the hospital. The police claimed they found powder burns on Jesus’ hands, proof he, too, had a gun. The autopsy said otherwise.

Today, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III runs for president of the country his father died for.

I believed in him, not very long ago. I believed in him in spite of a long-ago interview on Hacienda Luisita, on his first run as senator. As it happened, I was standing by Federico Laza, looking at a death certificate, while Noynoy claimed the dead were Manila radicals shipped to Tarlac for the purpose of terrorizing the hacienda. He said the farmers were content, and that all I knew were left-wing lies. The Cojuangcos still own Luisita, even if on paper they are meant to share profit with the same starving farmers who are worse off now than before they were made to sign land meant for them into stock market shares.

And still I was glad Noynoy was running, believed his mistakes, and his mother’s, were a result of their class and could change in the lead-up to 2010. I believed he could bring together a scattered field of candidates, pare down the fight between administration and opposition. I believed that the myth of the Aquinos behind him would be enough to convince his rivals to throw their support behind one candidate, and allow him to prove he was not just a paper doll hero, a crudely-cut outline of his parents. I was afraid he might lose. Now I am afraid he may win. I wish I still believed in him, because without him there’s very little left in the rogue’s gallery of would-be leaders.

For months he has been leading headlines. The Aquino son, soaring on the wings of heroes. His rivals have not stepped back; the field is still open. A fever sweeps through the media, crowning Noynoy, the man who has yet to say anything that is not an echo of the old revolution. Remember my father. Remember my mother. Vote for me, and you vote for them. And that is all. It has been months since he became suddenly the nation’s moral choice, and there is little resembling platform, policy or position. Miracle, they call him. This is the revolution, say his supporters. This is Edsa. So he may not be as intelligent. So he may not be as articulate. So he may not have proven himself. And because we are faced with the usual array of the corrupt and the devout, we wait, we believe. And we are rewarded, in all its cinematic splendor, by a music video.

The scene is a forest, in the dark of the night. Yellow shirts and soft yellow light, Regine Velasquez by a fire in the woods, singing of togetherness and unity and a farewell to fear. There is the small child, offering a bamboo torch to the senator. There is talk show host Boy Abunda, standing on a boat manned by a young boy. There is Kris Aquino, Noynoy’s sister, who is rumored to have been wining and dining A-list celebrities to support her brother. It is national unity via television ratings: the top stars of the warring networks linked by yellow. ABS-CBN’s darlings of prime time television are lit beautifully in the flickering firelight, holding their bamboo torches, hair bouncing as they walk, smiling soulfully into the distance. The camera lets GMA7’s number one love team Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera look lovingly at each other as they walk on, a smiling Sharon Cuneta raises a lantern, Ogie Alcasid marches with torch. There is the odd farmer and soldier, but it’s clear who the stars are. And so the full shot, a great phalanx of torch-bearing, yellow-clad men and women marching to battle, the celebrities at the front lines. Through it all, Noynoy smiles at children, at people, at the camera, smiles blankly, and you can almost hear him count in his head the seconds before he has to turn to the lens. In the end, he leaps awkwardly up to a mound of soil, surrounded by his beautiful constituency, and a sun explodes behind him in shattering brilliance.

In a nation where government responsibility has shifted to the media, and calls for aid are directed to newsroom desks instead of the hotlines of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, this sort of move isn’t particularly surprising. A united GMA7 and ABS-CBN may seem like the best of metaphors for a united nation, but it says very much about the sort of man Noynoy Aquino is. Flanked by stars, surrounded by celebrities, content to ride on the waving banner stamped with his parents’ faces. There is no message, other than that personality is king. There are no voices, not even his. His defenders say it’s not the time for campaign—and yet that video rolls on and on in prime time television. You are not alone, they say, but who stands with you? Anne Curtis? Ate Shawie? Marielle Rodriguez? Just recently, Noynoy promised to give up his share of Hacienda Luisita, and yet denies knowing of eviction notices to farmers even while the case sits in the Supreme Court. Laza continues to march in rallies, five years after a bullet ripped a good man away. Nothing has changed, the same songs, the same names, the same injustices.

They say the miracles are colored yellow now—the yellow of thick lengths of ribbon, the triumphant swags of bright flag, the inside edge of a flame on a bamboo torch held up to a camera lens, the same yellow of grass outside the gates of Hacienda Luisita, where a man named Jesus once walked with his father.

 

source: http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20091107-234874/Jesus-in-yellow

This blog was set up to serve as 1) an archive of resources related to the ongoing struggle for land and justice in Hacienda Luisita 2) as running account of activities related to the upcoming caravan to Hacienda Luisita on Nov. 16 to commemorate the brutal massacre of striking agricultural workers five years ago (thus Luisita 5). News articles, essays, poetry, photos and other materials on the struggle in Hacienda Luisita will be linked and embedded in entries detailing the developments in the Cojuangco-owned tract of land in Tarlac.

The first few entries will lay down the situation and struggle of Luisita farmers and farm workers under the hands of the Cojuangcos, who have managed the hacienda for five decades now. Past articles and timelines related to the land dispute will be featured, as well as analyses of the bogus agrarian reform being implemented at present. But most of the articles will discuss and revisit the fateful day of November 16, 2004, wherein seven striking agri-workers were slain by bullets during the bloody dispersal of military forces stationed in the hacienda. Up to now, justice remains elusive to victims and farmers.

We hope that this blog will help bring the issue in Luisita back to the forefront, as Luisita farmers vow to intensify their struggle for land. Their issue is not merely a land dispute problem – their issue captures the social justice problem in this land run by the wealthy and powerful few. We want presidentiables declare their position and agenda on the decades-old Luisita problem and pressure them to make necessary steps as early as now. And doing that requires a stream of support for the Luisita farmers who are once again faced with the threat of eviction.

For sure, the issue in Luisita will never die for as long as justice remains denied to farmers and martyrs, and for as long as genuine land reform remains a promise – just as this blog will remain relevant even in the years ahead. #

James Benedict C. Cura

Musings of a Perverted Mind.docx

Sherwin V. Alfaro
International Sales Manager
Email Address: sherwinrosmont@yahoo.com
Mobile Phone # : 0063 917 661 3397

Sherwin V. Alfaro
International Sales Manager
Email Address: sherwinrosmont@yahoo.com
Mobile Phone # : 0063 917 661 3397

Drop a comment on this blog post and let me know your plans for the long weekend this November.

Only entries/comments submitted by October 31 (SUN) 9.00 pm are included in the raffle.

Couchwasabi will randomly pick ONE (1) lucky winner who is willing to meet in Makati on a weekday to get this 50% coupon. Winner will be notified on October 31 (SUN) 11.00 pm via email.

Coupons is valid until Nov 30, 2009. Accepted in all Microtel Inn (Baguio, Batangas, Boracay, Cabanatuan, Cavite, Davao, Cebu, and Tarlac).

Terms and Conditions of Coupon:

• Discount is based on published rates and is applicable to one (1) room per stay.
• This coupon is valid in any of the Microtel properties in the Philippines.
• Hotel reservations are subject to availability and must be made in advance.
• This is not valid during peak periods.
• This must be surrendered upon check-in.
• A maximum of two (2) adults are allowed in a room.
• This is not convertible to cash and cannot be used in conjunction with any other promo rates/packages.
• This is not replaceable if lost or stolen.

By Roy Morilla, Mama Mila Liguasan and TC Concepcion

Quezon City- Rural based groups headed by the farmers’ group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and Anakpawis party list today kicked off a three-day, four-vehicle relief caravan in Central Luzon provinces billed as Peasant Caravan for Land and Justice.

Organizers of the 3-day caravan led by KMP secretary general Danilo Ramos and Anakpawis secretary general Cherry Clemente said the relief operations to be conducted in the provinces of Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac is just part of the comprehensive political program to be carried by caravan protesters.

“The relief operation is just a segment of the entire political program. The main content of the 3-day peasant caravan is the peasant call and solidarity for genuine land reform and social justice and the presentation of the farmers’ 9-point omnibus demands for calamity victims in countryside,” KMP’s Ramos and Anakpawis’ Clemente said in a joint statement.

“Our demands clearly include about support in housing, rehabilitation of farms, grant of seeds and seedlings for rice, corn, vegetables and other farmers’ crops, financial assistance of about P10,000 to P15,000 per hectare, a credit line to the Land Bank of the Philippines amounting to P10,000 to P15,000 per hectare, tractors, hand-tractors and carabao, setting-up of potable water supply, one year or equivalent to the value of two successive croppings moratorium on irrigation fees to National Irrigation Authority and private irrigation systems and livelihood to seasonal farmworkers, ” the caravan leaders said.

As this developed, the relief caravan to be undertaken by Malacanang and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Monday, where a hundred of truckloads of relief goods will be make their way to Northern Luzon to aid victims of typhoon Pepeng was postponed due to typhoon Ramil. The government’s own relief drive is supposed to benefit 500,000 affected families.

Social welfare secretary Esperanza Cabral said the relief goods will be distributed to victims of Pepeng in 19 provinces in Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), but because of typhoon Ramil which is expected to hit Northern Luzon this week, the department decided to cancel Monday’s relief caravan to Northern Luzon.

KMP and Anakpawis in cooperation with allied groups Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA), Amihan peasant women federation, Nnara-Youth, Migrante International, All UP Workers Union and Rural Missionaries of the Philippines will only distribute a little over 400 relief packs for the same number of families in San Miguel, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac.

“Our modest relief efforts for our members in Central Luzon, particularly in San Miguel town in Bulacan, for Fort Magsaysay and southern towns of Nueva Ecija, and for the agricultural workers of Hacienda Luisita is one way of expressing our irrevocable concern for the peasants and the rural people devastated by the state and profit driven escapades. The political message is the more important thing which is genuine land reform, the solution to current predicament confronted by landless farmers,” the peasant caravan organizers added.

Today, KMP and Anakpawis caravan participants will stay in a peasant community in San Miguel, Bulacan and will have a solidarity night with farmers facing land dispute with Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte, whom they accused of landgrabbing some 375 hectares of land in the area. They will also distribute 200 packs of relief goods to 200 farmer families.

Tomorrow the caravan will traverse the municipality of Gapan and the rest of the southern towns of Nueva Ecija on their way to Cabanatuan City to protest landgrabbing activities of big landlords inside the 7,100 Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation in Laur. Nueva Ecija. They will also hand out some 62 relief packs to the KMP chapter in Nueva Ecija. From Cabanatuan City, the caravan protesters will proceed to Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac and they are expected to be at the sugar hacienda owned by the family of the late President Corazon Aquino by late afternoon.

KMP and Anakpawis said they will distribute some 158 relief packs to affected sugar workers in Hacienda Luisita.

On October 20, the caravan protesters will travel back to Manila, and will pass through several towns of Tarlac, Pampanga and Bulacan provinces namely Bamban and Concepcion in Tarlac, Magalang, Mabalacat and San Fernando in Pampanga, and Calumpit, Malolos and Bocaue in Bulacan on their way back to Manila.

On the same day, the caravan protesters will meet peasant protesters at the Department of Agrarian Reform for a solidarity night, and on October 21, they will march from DAR to Mendiola in Manila. #

Typhoon hit Philippines again! October 6, 2009 (barely 2 weeks after typoon flooded Manila in Sept 26)….
This time it hit the northern Luzon causing devastation to ricefield, livelihood, mountains, roads and lives of too many people…. How sad…

see related posts re: typhoon pepeng (see) and its aftermath (see)….

Isdaan is one fine restaurant that you wouldn’t even think existing in the landlocked province of Tarlac. Being here is like you’re in another country or some sort of a theme park . Its very remarkable setup, good food and display, this restaurant should be included in your list.

koi pond

Upon arriving in  Gerona, the place is  more than a hectare . While  the name “Isdaan” which means fisheries really speaks for itself. Huge sculptures of fishes are atop a pond filled with several types of fishes – mostly kois. These fish sculptures are somewhat re-enacting a scene where a bamboo pole has caught a fish.

Fish statute, Thai garuda and a T-Rex dinosaur

We walked through the restos bamboo flooring and noticed lots of different statues are all over the place. From sleeping security guards, rooster, huge monkeys playing around, dinosaurs from pre-historic  times,bronze Thai buddhas, aetas bearing jar clays and their catch of the day and even famous personalities of the late  Jaime Cardinal Sin and former President of the Philippines Corazon Cojuangco Aquino. You’re eyes are really filled with these masterpieces and would definitely get excited to survey the area.

One of the best sites in the area are the nipa huts.  These are suspended over the pond where school of kois are around waiting for some food. These huts were some sort of guarded by the waiters with their laminated-cardboard like menus. Asking you what to eat and even guiding you where’s the best location the restaurant has to offer. Warm and hospitable are the common thing for these folks, not to mention their mastery of food making. There were entertainers who sung various Filipino songs much to the group delight .

The group ordered crispy pata lechon, inihaw na manok, singang , adobong palaka, ginataang kuhol, fried rice, lumpiang sariwa  and fresh fruit juices.

The group came across Ms. Iwa Motto – a starstruck finalist and a kapuso channel 7 celebrity. we instantly requested to have a group photo and an individual photo her.

Tacsiyao wall

The Tacsiyapo wall,  is just a wall which you can release your anger towards someone. But if you are really raging mad at that time, this is a sure way to release your anger while shouting “Tacsiyapo” meaning ” shame on you ! “  and throwing away the mug or whatever you have chosen to smash onto the wall! There are also places in Japan and Europe  were people can release their anger by throwing utensils and other stuffs . Call that anger and stress management therapy for a fee!!!! minus the consultation….

Lastly, they have a San Kilo Bridge, where they would give you a free 1 kilo of tilapia, if you are able to successfully cross the bridge back and forth.  Best time to go here is in the evening so that it is a little cooler and you’ll be prepared for any eventualities with the San Kilo Bridge.

an visitor  crossed the san kilo bridge to the finish line

For more information:

Isdaan
Gerona, Tarlac
Contact Number: 045-9312196

Over the weekend, on our way north to attend the wedding of a college buddy, we stopped over at  Isdaan, a restaurant off the side of the road in Tarlac that advertised a fresh catch. They may be talking about the seafood that they serve or the customers whose attention would be caught by the this not-so-ordinary roadside restaurant.

Found along the highway on the way north, this restaurant is literally floating on a very large fishpond. You can’t miss this place since there is a huge signboard on the left side (if your going north). As you enter the place, you can easily see the architecture inside the restaurant which is either aztec and thai-inspired. You can also see huge fish statues on a pond near the parking area.

As you enter the place, you will get to see a guard who seemingly does not mind you entering the place. Looking closer, you would get to see why – guard is actually one of the place’s decorative statues that dot the place.

Each table is inside cottages connected by bamboo bridges. When we were there, one of the bamboo bridges was actually not fastened properly, as what one of my friends surprisingly found out.

They even had a game in the place where you can win a kilo of fresh fish if you get to survive huge spitting and urinating monkey statues. We did not stay long enough to find out if that was really true. We stayed there for a bite to eat on the way to Dagupan City.

The place is not only a seafood place, they also serve bulalo and chicken. They also have their own group of singing and dancing waiters and cooks. The place was nice even though we thought that the serving time was going to be long as what one of my Manila-based friend experienced the last time he was here. At least they were able to serve our order within fifteen minutes.

Another attraction of the place was the Tacsiyapo wall, where you get to release whatever hang-ups or anger that you have by throwing mugs, plates or even a working television against the wall. The wall is painted with names that may be the reason why you are stressed out. The price ranges from P14 to as high as P1,500 depending on what you want to smash against the wall.

All in all the place was actually nice. Not only do you get to have a nice meal on the way north, its also a welcome respite from the usual roadside restaurants that line the highways all over the country. As what their sign says, its a fresh catch each time you enter the place – it catches your attention with its fresh catch of seafood.