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A Short History of Hacienda Luisita

The story of Hacienda Luisita is inextricably tied to the overall story of the modern Philippines. In the time since its inception in the late 19th Century all of the main players in the development, or lack thereof, of the Philippines as a nation have played there part in the saga whether directly or vicariously. Every aspect of the history of ownership of Hacienda Luisita since it came into being in 1882 seems incredible when viewed through modern, western eyes, and the fact that the tenure of ownership is still not resolved to this day, I believe, gives a greater insight into the Philippines, its institutions, and the psyche of the Filipino people, than any other issue.

The Central Azcurera De Tarlac sugar refinery. Site of the 2004 massacre. Picture by James Catlin

It all began with theTabacalera In 1882, Don Antonio Lopez Y Lopez, the most successful and influential Spanish businessman of the 19th Century, acquired more than 12,000 hectares of prime agricultural land in Tarlac, Central Luzon, on behalf of his newly formed company, the Compania General de Tobacos de Filipinas, known as the Tabacalera. This acquisition was achieved by means of a Royal Grant from the Spanish Crown, which held a self appointed claim to the lands of the Philippines as colonial overlords. He named the property Hacienda Luisita, after his wife, Luisa Bru Y Lassus. Don Antonio was an extraordinary character in himself. Born in the small town of Comillas, on the North Coast of Spain, and losing his father at the age of 2, Lopez was sent to work with relatives in Andalusia at 10 years of age, to help support his family. Lopez migrated to Cuba at the age of 14, where he spent the next twenty years, initially building a trading business, dealing in flour, and other basic commodities, which he converted into a shipping company, which would eventually become known as the Compania Transatlantica Espanola. Lopez attracted great favor from the Spanish Crown, and considerable profit for his company, with the transfer of troops to and from Spains colonial insurrections in Africa in 1859 and the ten year war in Cuba from 1861 by steam ship. His company held the contract for the shipping of Spains

Colonial correspondence, as well as being a major shipper of commodities, including slaves, between Spain and her colonies. By the time of his installation as the 1stMarquis of Comillas, a Royal Thiefdom , created for him by a grateful King, in 1878, Don Antonio had expanded his empire into Banking, mining, and rail infrastructure in Spain. As well as substantial tobacco and sugar estates in the Caribbean. Lopez was considered a close friend and adviser to King Alfonso the XII of Spain, as well as being a well known associate of Spains first Prime Minister of foreign blood, the Spanish/Filipino Don Marcelo Azcarraga y Palmero. The American Occupation (1899 1946) The United States entered The Philippines in 1899, in the guise of supporting the existing Philippine War of Independence against the Spanish, initially as part of the tail end of the Spanish American War. After negotiating terms with the Spanish (who at the time were on the brink of defeat by the forces of the First Philippine Republic, who had encircled the last of the Spanish forces in their walled Capital of Manila). The United States reneged on a deal with the President of the First Republic Emilio Aguinaldo, and annexed the Philippines as an extension of the spoils of the Spanish American War. An action which led to war with the Philippines. Which, as far as Central Luzon was concerned lasted until 1901 (in other areas of The Philippines, most notably the Moro areas of Western Mindanao, armed resistance to the Americans continued as late as 1913). From the very beginning the United States represented the annexation of the Philippines

Painting of a scene from the Battle of Manila, February 4th,1899. Artist unstated, picture from the public domain.

as a period of tutelage towards self rule. President McKinley initiated two commissions to report to congress on the issue, the Schumman Commission, in 1898, delivered in 1900, and the Taft Commission which included some executive powers in the Philippines in 1900, delivered in 1902. It was the assertion of these Commissions that if handed independence at that point the leadership of

the Islands would rapidly fall into anarchy. With the Taft commission further stating that the plan put forward by Aguinaldo for the rule of the Oligarchy is unsuitable and undemocratic. Although it was not apparent at the time, the seeds of post independence Hacienda Luisita were sewn in this period, with the great wealth of the Cojuangco family appearing miraculously between 1899 and 1901. The Cojuangcos settled in Paniqui, Tarlac, in March 1896. The patriarch of the clan, the Chinese immigrant Jose Cojuangco (Chinese name Koh Giok Kuan), a builder who had obtained a reputation for the quality of his work, most notably for the Church in Balacan.

General Antonio Luna

It is said that the source of the Cojuangcos wealth came via General Antonio Luna, the Supreme Chief of the Army of the First Republic of the Philippines. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Luna had the funds of the revolution collected from repositories in Illocos and Pampanga, sent to the home of his girlfriend, Ysidra Cojuangco, in Paniqui, Tarlac, for safe keeping from the advancing American Forces. The last of these shipments arriving from Pampanga 3 days before Lunas assassination at the hands of troops loyal to Aguinaldo, the President of the First Republic, in June 1899. After Lunas death the Cojuangcos are believed to have hidden the treasure in a well on the property. The funds were never recovered and it is suggested that the Cojuangcos simply kept the money, using it as capital to build there extensive empire in the years immediately following the conflict. The Cojuangcos themselves have maintained that their rapid accumulation of wealth in this period was due to frugality and good business sense in rice marketing and money lending activities. They maintain that they were aided by free rail transport to Manila markets from their rice mill in Paniqui (the commercial rate at this time being P 2.50 per sack), as a gift from General Arthur Macarthur, whom they assisted with accommodation and storage space during the American advance. However given that in this period rice production in Tarlac was hampered not only by war, but also by severe floods and locust plagues it is difficult to see how this competitive advantage could translate to a building family who invested in a 2 hectare property and small rice mill in 1896, to owning 2,000

hectares along the rail line by 1901. A holding which increased to more than 12,000 Hectares, spread across Central Luzon by the 1920s. Regardless of the source, by the official end of hostilities in the region in 1901, Ysidra Cojuangco, the spinster aunt of Jose Pepe Cojuangco, his 3 brothers, Juan, Antonio and Eduardo, and matriarch of the clan, was considered the richest woman in the Philippines. Under American occupation contrary to what might have been expected, the Spanish owned Hacienda Luisita flourished. This was largely due to the American obsession with sugar. The Tabcalera, abandoned tobacco production on the estate in the 1920s to cater for the growi ng sugar quotas from the US. In 1927 they constructed the sugar refinery the Central Azcurarera de Tarlac (CAT), incorporating centrifugal machinery from the US to effectively double production and negate their need to ship the sugar to refineries in Laguna, owned by the Roxas family. At one point prior to the outbreak of World War II, Hacienda Luisita was supplying 20% of the sugar consumed in the United States. The Japanese Occupation During the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines (1941 1945), sugar production continued at Hacienda Luisita. The Japanese policy was to ensure that supplies of commodities such as sugar were not interrupted, in an attempt to avoid insurgencies. The continuation of production served both Spanish and Japanese interests at the time. Macarthurs Headquarters During the liberation of the Philippines from Japanese occupation, General Douglas

General Douglas Macarthur, landing on Leyte in 1944. The first step in the liberation of the Philippines from the Japanese.

Dugout Doug Macarthur, set up his advanced headquarters at Hacienda Luisita on the 25th of January 1945. Macarthur was a childhood friend of Pepe Cojuangco. The famous, official publicity photograph on the right shows Macarthur stepping ashore on Leyte in company with the President of the Commonwealth in exile, Sergio Osmena (far left in pith helmet) . The Cojuangco Purchase In the early 1950s, the Spanish owners of the Tabacalera, decided to sell Hacienda Luisita and the CAT, due to concerns over Hukbalahap (communist) insurgencies in the area. The wealthy Lopez family of Iloilo moved to purchase the CAT, but this purchase was vetoed by President Ramon Magsaysay, reportedly due to concerns the Lopez clan, who already owned Meralco, Negros Navigation,The Manila Chronicle, ABS-CBN, substantial agricultural holdings in the Western Visayas and the nearby PASUMIL consortium in Pampanga which they had purchased from the Americans,would become too powerful.

Jose Don Pepe Cojuangco

Instead he brokered a deal with his political prodigy Benigno Ninoy S Aquino Jr, for whom Magsaysay had acted as Ninong (primary sponsor) of his wedding to Corozon Cojuangco, to offer the property exclusively to Ninoys father-in-law Jose Don Pepe Cojuangco Sr. The Cojungcos at the time were already the largest land owners in Central Luzon, but while wealthy in Peso and bank holdings, had no substantial holdings in US dollars. After Magsaysays death, in a plane crash in Cebu on March 17th 1957, the sale continued under the Presidency of Carlos Garcia, a strong supporter of then Senator Ferdinand Marcos. In August 1957 the Philippine Government facilitated the purchase of the CAT by providing Central Bank (CB) support to the Cojuangcos to obtain a Dollar loan from the Manufacturers Trust Company of New York (MTC). This support required the CB to deposit a substantial amount of the Nations Dollar reserve with the MTC. The CB extended this support on the condition that the Cojuangcos also purchase the by then 6,453 hectare Hacienda Luisita with the CAT, with a view to distributing the land to small farmers within a 10 year period of the purchase under reasonable terms.

On the 27th of August, 1957, the Central Bank Monetary Board issued Resolution No. 1240, approving the loan for the purchase of shares in the CAT, adding the clause that, There shall be a simultaneous purchase of Hacienda Luisita with the purchase of the shares, with a view to distributing this hacienda to small farmers in line with the Administrations Social Justice program. The Government also organized a loan from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), for the purchase of the Hacienda. On November 27th, 1957, the GSIS approved a loan of P 5.9 million through Resolution No. 3202. The GSIS loan was approved after Don Pepe informed them in a letter that the Cojuangcos acquisition of the Hacienda would pave the way for the sale to bona fide planters on a long term basis, portions of the Hacienda. On the condition that Hacienda Luisita be subdivided among the tenants who shall pay the cost thereof under reasonable terms and conditions. Four months later, Don Pepe Cojuangco made a successful application to the GSIS to change the phrase to shall be sold at cost to tenants, should there be any. This phrase would be cited later on as justification not to distribute the Haciendas land.

Ninoy Aquino

So on April the 8th 1958 Don Pepe Cojuangcos company, the Tarlac Development Corporation (TADECO), became the new owner of Hacienda Luisita and Central Azucarera de Tarlac. Don Pepe immediately installed Ninoy Aquino as Administrator of the Hacienda. The purchase of Hacienda Luisita and the CAT was the largest investment ever made. The Cojuangcos Lawyer in the purchase of Hacienda Luisita was Juan Ponce Enrile. the leader of the 1986 People Power Revolution and current President of the Philippine Senate. The Great Social Experiment On taking over Don Pepe and Ninoy immediately installed a near welfare state at Hacienda Luisita. The initiatives implemented included, free medical care and medicines, scholarships to college, free

education, free food and equitable shares of the harvest to farmers, free childcare, free burials, a village earmarked for the farmers and free fuel for tractors. Although Don Pepe made losses, he was able to support his social reform program through his other profitable investments in the Bank of Commerce and First Manila Management, which he owned, and his holdings in Pantranco buses and the Mantrade Group. During the period of Don Pepe and Ninoys Administration of the Hacienda there was great optimism among the residents. Not a single strike was instigated in this period by the farm or refinery workers, nor indeed by the workers at the nearby Paniqui Sugar Mills, which were managed by Don Pepe on behalf of his aunt, the Cojuangco Matriarch Ysidra. To this day the majority of older residents maintain a deep and genuine affection for the two men. The Marcos era

Ferdinand Marcos

In 1965 Ferdinand Marcos defeated the incumbent Diosdado Macapagal in what is often described as the most corrupted election in Philippine History. Marcos set out on a campaign against the established Oligarchy of the Philippines of which the Cojuangcos were a member. His most vocal critic and effective leader of the opposition was now Senator Ninoy Aquino. The 10-year window given by the Philippine Government for the Cojuangcos to distribute the land elapsed in 1967 with no land distribution taking place. During this time, farmers began to organize into groups to push for land distribution. The Cojuangcos, however, insisted that there were no tenants on the Hacienda, hence no need to distribute land. In 1969 a family feud led to Don Pepe selling his 28% share in the Bank of Commerce, to the other 3 strands of the Cojuangco family. It is believed that this split occurred due to the unwillingness of the representatives of the other strands of the family led by Juan Itoy, Don Pepes brother, Ramon,

the son of Antonio Sr, who was killed by the Japanese in 1945, and the then Congressman in Marcos Nationalista Party, Danding, son of Eduardo, who died of kidney failure when the family were unable to convert there Peso holdings into Dollars to obtain medical treatment in the United States, to allow Don Pepes eldest son Pedro to take over as president of the Bank. Although this sale was on amicable terms it removed one of the 3 props that Don Pepe held to mitigate the loses generated by the Hacienda Marcos declared Martial Law on the 21st of September 1972. Not withstanding that the primary reason given for the declaration was concerns over Communist insurgency in lite of a series of events, most notably the Plaza Miranda Bombing in Manila in August 1971, which the Communist Party claimed responsibility for. However despite the fact that the Plaza Miranda incident was a direct attack on the Liberal Party, Liberal Senator Ninoy Aquino was among the first to be arrested and imprisoned under the new powers. Added to this Don Pepe was unable to upgrade the machinery in the aging CAT. The Marcos administration had refused his application to increase fares on his Pantranco buses to compensate for rising costs, despite allowing other companies to do so. Marcos critics believed that this was an attempt to coerce Don Pepe into apply pressure on his son in law Ninoy to refrain from making disparaging remarks about the President and First Lady Imelda Marcos (who Ninoy had labeled the new Eva Peron). In 1974 Don Pepes business empire suffered a further blow with the death of his close friend and business partner Manuel Lopa. Lopa had maintained a close relationship withSpeaker of the House of Representatives, Daniel Romualdez, Imeldas uncle. Ambassador Benjamin Romualdez, the brother of Imelda, then coerced Pepe and his son-in-law, RicardoBaby Lopa (Manuels son) into selling the collection of 38 companies under First Manila Management to him. Baby and his wife Teresita Cojuangco, together with Pepe and the rest of the Lopa heirs, had no choice but to sell. The second of Don Pepes 3 props for the Hacienda disappeared with this extortion. Finally in early 1976 Don Pepe sold off his final prop, The First United Bank, which he had built up on his own after his ousting from the family owned Bank of Commerce to his nephew Danding for an amicable sum. With all of his external lifelines gone Don Pepe was left with little more than a half rehabilitated and barely earning white elephant.

Don Pepe Cojuangco died, reportedly a broken and disillusioned man, on the 21st of August, 1976, while Ninoy Aquino was still in custody. His funeral was attended by thousands of Hacienda Luisita residents. The Government had sent only three letters to the Cojuangcos from the 1960s to the 1970s to follow up the issue of land distribution.During 1977 the Government reviewed the Cojuangcos compliance with the land distribution condition contained in the loan agreements. On the 22nd of June, 1978, Demetira Cojuangco, the widow of Don Pepe, wrote to

Demitera Cojuangco

Ernesto Valdez, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Agrarian Reform. In this letter she said that it was extremely unwarranted to make us account for the fulfillment of a condition that cannot be enforced, furthermore that there are no tenants in Hacienda Luisita, adding that the Central Bank resolution does not indicate small farmers and that the Hacienda is outside the scope of any land reform program of the Government and that there is no agrarian unrest in Hacienda Luisita. The Marcos Government filed case No.13164, against Jose Cojuangco Sr and his heirs, before the Manila Regional Trial Court (MRTC) on the 7th of May 1980, to force the Cojuangco-owned TADECO into surrendering Hacienda Luisita to the Ministry of Agrarian Reform so that the land could be distributed to the farmers at cost. The case was filed as Ninoy Aquino and his family were leaving for exile in the US. The Cojuangcos responded to the government complaint by on the 10th of January 1981, arguing that the land could not be distributed because the Hacienda did not have tenants. They also argued that sugar lands were not covered by existing agrarian reform legislation. Anti-Marcos groups claimed that the governments case was an act of harassment against Ninoy Aquinos family.

After living in exile for 3 years in Boston, Massachusetts, Ninoy Aquino returned to Manila. He was assassinated on the tarmac of the Manila International Airport, now named in his honor, upon arrival on the 21st of August, 1983. The MRTC ordered TADECO to surrender Hacienda Luisita to the Ministry of Agrarian Reform, to redistribute the land to small farmers, and that the landowners, TADECO, be compensated P 3.988 million, on the 2nd of December 1985. The Cojuangcos decried this as an act of harassment because Cory Cojuangco Aquino was set to run against Marcos in the February 1986 snap elections. The family later elevated the matter to the Court of Appeals. On December 3, 1985, the day after the MRTC ruling, Cory Aquino, widow of Ninoy and daughter of Don Pepe, officially filed her certificate of candidacy for President. Land reform was among the pillars of her campaign. She promised to give land to the tiller and to subject Hacienda Luisita to land reform. The Presidency of Corazon Cojuangco Aquino

Cory Aquino

The February the 7th, 1986 snap election was marred by allegations of widespread fraud against Marcos. The anti-Marcos sentiments led to the People Power Revolution, a series of nonviolent mass street demonstrations, culminating in the withdrawal of US backing for the Marcos regime, and finally, the seizure of the Malacanang Palace by a group led by the then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and General Fidel Ramos, Marcos cousin. Marcos and his senior cronies, including Danding

Cojuangco, fled the country to take refuge in the United States, and the millionaire housewife, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, who had been on retreat, meditating with the Carmelite Sisters in Cebu during the revolution, was elevated to the Presidency. thus bringing a return to power for the more traditional Oligarchy of the Philippines. The initial phase of the Cory Aquino Presidency was dominated by actions to sure up power, centered around the institution of a much criticized new constitution, which extended greater protections to the landed Oligarchs. With no sign of the promised agrarian reform on the horizon, labour groups became more and more frustrated and eleven months into the Cory Aquino presidency, on the 22nd of January, 1987, thousands of frustrated farmers marched to Malacaang demanding land reform and the distribution of land at no cost to beneficiaries. In a violent dispersal, 13 protesters were killed in what has gone down in history as the Mendiola Massacre. An event cited today by the left as the beginning of Cory Aquinos reign of blood, and the first of scores of massacres and dispersals perpetrated on the Philippine people by the forces of her regime. Eventually on the 22nd of July, 1987, Cory issued Presidential Proclamation 131 and Executive Order No. 229 outlining her agrarian reform program, which unlike previous social justice programs, covered sugar and coconut lands. The outline also included a provision for the Stock Distribution Option (SDO), a mode of complying with the land reform law that did not require actual transfer of the land to the tiller. Then on March the 17th, 1988, the Government withdrew its case against the Cojuangcos. Corys appointee, Solicitor General Frank Chavez, filed a motion for the Court of Appeals to dismiss the civil case the Marcos government filed and won at the Manila Regional Trial Court against the Cojuangcos. The Department of Agrarian Reform and the GSIS, then headed by Aquino appointees Philip Juico and Feliciano Sonny Belmonte, respectively, did not object to the mo tion to dismiss the case. Added to this the Central Bank did not object to dismissal of case as it assumed that Luisita would be distributed anyway through the upcoming Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). The Court of Appeals dismissed the case filed by the Marcos government against the Cojuangcoowned TADECO on May 18th, 1988. The Government itself, under Cory, moved to withdraw the finding that compelled TADECO to distribute land. With this the Cojuangcos seemed to have achieved unencumbered sovereignty over Hacienda Luisita.

With the prior rulings safely negated President Aquino finally signed into law Republic Act No. 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, on the 10th of June 1988. A clause in the agrarian reform program included SDO, which allows landowners to give farmers shares of stock in a corporation instead of land. On the 23rd of August 1988 TADECO established Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) to implement the distribution of stocks to farmers in the Hacienda. The Cojuangcos justified Luisitas SDO by saying it was impractical to divide the Haciendas 4,915.75 hectares of land among 6,296 farm workers because this would give farmers less than one hectare of land each (or 0.78 hectares of land per person), not near enough land to support a family. From the beginning of 1989 the real crisis began on Hacienda Luisita. Lack of work and a population that had swollen well above what the property could support led to abject poverty. The farm and refinery workers on the Hacienda were reliant on the charity of the Cojuangcos for their very survival. On May the 9th,1989, the Haciendas farm workers were asked to choose between stocks or land in a referendum. The SDO won 92.9% of the vote. A second referendum and information campaign were held five months later and the SDO won again, getting 96.75% of the vote. Father Joaquin Bernas, a 1987 Constitutional Commission member, said in his June 27, 1989, column in The Manila Chronicle, that Luisitas SDO is inconsistent with the Constitution. The [SDO] is a loophole because it does not support the Constitutions desire that the right of farmers to become owners of the land they till should be promoted by government. When the CARP was implemented in Hacienda Luisita on the 11th of May, 1989, the farm workersownership of the plantation was pegged at 33 percent, while the Cojuangcos retained 67 percent. The SDO agreement spelled out a 30-year schedule for transferring the stocks to the farm workers: At the end of each fiscal year, for a period of 30 yea rs, the SECOND PARTY (HLI) shall arrange with the FIRST PARTY (TADECO) the acquisition and distribution to the THIRD PARTY (farm workers) on the basis of number of days worked and at no cost to them of one-thirtieth (1/30) of 118,391,976.85 shares of the capital stock of the SECOND PARTY (HLI) that are presently owned

and held by the FIRST PARTY (TADECO), until such time as the entire block of 118,391,976.85 shares shall have been completely acquired and distributed to the THIRD PARTY (farm workers). On the 21st of November,1989, the Agrarian Reform Secretary Miriam Defensor-Santiago

Miriam Defensor Santiago

approved the SDO agreement of Hacienda Luisita. However, Santiagos tenure at the DAR only lasted two months. In 2005, Santiago, by then a senator, alleged Cory Aquino removed her from the position because of a comment she made to the media, that Cory should inhibit herself from being the chairperson of the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC), which approves SDO agreements. The presidency of Cory Aquino came to an end on the 30th of June 1992, and she was replaced by Fidel Ramos, who had essentially been her protector during the various coup attempts that punctuated her term. She left the entire region of Central Luzon in complete disarray, with thousands still starving in the aftermath of the cataclysmic eruption of Mt Pinatubo a year earlier, and the closure of the United States military bases, Clark air base in Pampanga and the Subic Bay naval facility in Zambeles. The reclassification of the land. It was also in 1992 that Pedro Cojuangco, Don Pepes eldest son and administrator of the Hacienda, with tenure secured by the stock distribution option, attempted to bring Luisita up to a point of profit. He initially attempted a variety of austerity measures, all to little avail, as a sugar producing entity the Hacienda and the CAT would fail to record a profit until 2009, and then only due to the temporary unreliability of the Brazilian sugar market.

It was apparent that diversification may be the key to the survival of Hacienda Luisita and on the 1st of September, 1995, the Sangguniang Bayan of Tarlac (Provincial Board of Tarlac), under the leadership of the Governor of Tarlac Province, Margarita Tingting Cojuangco, the wife of Jose Peping Cojuangco Jr., passed a resolution that reclassified 3,290 out of Hacienda Luisitas viable 4,915 hectares, from agricultural to commercial, industrial, and residential land. The Department of Agrarian Reform approved for conversion 500 hectares of the Luisita land on the 14th of August 1996. The Hacienda Luisita Massacre By 2003, with another member of the Central Luzon Oligarchy, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, installed in Malacanang Palace, the farm workersdaily wage flattened at P194.50 and work days were down to one per week. The Hacienda workers then filed a petition with the DAR to have the SDO agreement revoked. On the 14th of October, 2003, workers from the HLI supervisory group petitioned the DAR to revoke the SDO, saying they were not receiving the dividends and other benefits earlier promised to them. Two months later, a petition to revoke the SDO bearing more than 5,300 signatures was filed by union officers at the DAR to revoke the SDO and stop land conversion in Hacienda Luisita. Throughout the month of July 2004, the union tried to negotiate a wage increase to P225 per day. Workers also asked that the work days be increased to 2-3 days per week, instead of just once a week. The management disagreed, claiming that the company was losing money, and that any increases would be impossible. Then on the 1st of October, HLI management retrenched 327 farm workers, including union officers. This action resulted in almost all 5,000 members of the United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU) and 700 members of Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU), whos wage negotiations had stagnated at the time, staging a protest against the mass retrenchment, on the 6th of November 2004. The ULWU strikers formed a picket at the main No1 Gate of the CAT, while the contingent from the CATLU picketed Gate No. 2. On November 10, 2004, four days after the strike started, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) declared an Assumption of Jurisdiction. Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas announced that

quelling the strike was a matter of national interest because Luisita was one of the Co untrys major sugar producers. The Assumption of Jurisdiction legally cleared the way to use government troops to stop the strike. The picketers were ordered to vacate within five days, or else be removed by force. The Unionists claimed that this decision was due to the Cojuangcos direct influence within the Malacanang Palace, President Arroyo had initially entered political life in 1987 on the invitation of Cory Aquino and in her electoral success of just 6 months earlier had received assistance from both Noynoy and Kris Aquino ( Noynoys tv star sister), as well as their support in her 2001 ousting of President Joseph Estrada on the back of corruption claims. On the 15th of November to protect themselves from the forthcoming forcible removal, the workers called on the people in the barrios around Hacienda Luisita to form a human barrier at the picket line, according to Lito Bais, current acting president of ULWU. The villagers came, including priests, barangay officials, and children whose families sympathized with the workers. Concerned groups from out of town also sent contingents to help protect the strikers. On November 15, 2004, the Philippine National Police (PNP) returned as promised with reinforcements. According to reports to the Senate, around 400 policemen tried to disperse about 4,000 protesters. CATLU president Ric Ramos was hit and collapsed from a large head wound, but the police were still unable to break the picket. At some point on the afternoon of the 15th, Union leaders were summoned to a meeting at the Makati home of Jose Peping Cojuangco Jr., to attempt to resolve the issue. The Union representatives left for the meeting early on the morning of the 16th. Upon arriving at Makati, the representatives of the CATLU were told that there would be no negotiations until the strike was lifted. While the representatives of the ULWU, were refused entry as HLI management claimed, contrary to Philippine Industrial Law, that as retrenched workers they were effectively disenfranchised from the process, refusing to allow them the right to negotiate on behalf of their peers. Strike organizers later stated they they believed that this shambolic meeting was nothing more than a ruse to allow the Government forces to organize their attack.

Dispersed by Bullets, a protestor, shot by Government forces during the Hacienda Luisita Massacre, November 16th 2004. Picture courtesy of Bullatat.

Upon returning to the picket at around 3.00 PM on the 16th of November, the Union Leaders were greeted by a sight reminiscent of a war zone. In their absence the security forces had swelled to include, 2 tanks equipped with heavy weapons, a payloader, 4 fire trucks with water cannon, 17 trucks full of soldiers in full battle dress, 700 policemen and snipers positioned in at least 5 strategic locations. he violence erupted when one of the tanks and the payloader broke through the number one gate, which had been locked by management, and security forces began pelting the protesters with tear gas and water cannon infused with chemicals. The protesters fought back, burying tear gas cannisters in the soil and hurling stones at their attackers with sling shots. Eventually the water cannons and tear gas ran out and demonstrators, cheering their victory, surged forward, hurling rocks at the security forces. Gunfire erupted. The first spray of bullets lasted for a full minute, followed by a series of short sprays. At least 7 people were killed and 121 injured, 32 by gunshot wounds. At the Senate inquiry held into the massacre on the 1st of December that year it was revealed that an astounding 1,000 rounds were fired at the protesters. Doctors who autopsied the dead and examined the wounded after the massacre reported that the victims had been shot whilst running away, crouching or lying down. On the 17th of November, 2004, the day after the massacre, Tarlac Congressman and deputy speaker of the House, Benigno Noynoy Aquino III, defended the dispersal in the House of Representatives, saying that its an illegal strike, no strike vote was called. He added that police and soldiers were subjected to sniper fire from an adjacent Barangay. The PNP official account of the massacre

echoed the statements of Noynoy, however these assertions were debunked by evidence presented to the Senate enquirey. A month after the Hacienda Luisita massacre, picket lines were established around the Hacienda. Soon after, eight people who supported the farmers cause or had evidence supporting their case were murdered one by one. The killings began on December 8, 2004 with the death of Marcelino Beltran, a retired army officer turned peasant leader. Beltran was assassinated in his house just before he was to testify about bullet trajectories at the Senate and Congress on December 13 and 14, 2004. On the 5th of January 2004, a group of 20 farm workers in a picket at the west gate of the Las Haciendas housing development were fired upon by bodyguards of Congressman Noynoy Aquino. George Loveland and Ernesto Cruz were shot and injured in the incident. Both men survived their injuries and testified before the Senate 7 days later. No charges were ever filed against anyone. Local Councilor Abelard Ladera, who had collected documents relating to the Hacienda Luisita SDO, with the intention of tabling them before the senate was shot dead on the 3rd of March 2005. his was followed by the assassination of Priest and Hacienda workers sympathizer Father William Tadena, who was shot dead by a body guard of Noynoy Aquino on the 13th of March. This killing was witnessed by fellow priest Father Jun Flores, who has gone into hiding for fear of his life.Then on the 17th of March 66 year old Victor Tataben Concepcion, an active supporter of the strike, was shot dead outside his home. The final murder of 2005 in Hacienda Luisita occurred on the 15th of October, when

Tensions still run high in the Barangays of the Hacienda, this picture was taken in April 2012. photo James Catlin

Florentine Collante, a vocal critic of Noynoy Aquino and the Cojuangco family was assassinated, again by gunfire. The mood inside the Hacienda through 2005 was one of fear and suspicion. Barangay officials undertook what security measures they could including the banning of motorcyclists wearing helmets and bandannas obscuring their Identification, this was due to the fact

that most attacks were by motorcyclists. Signs like the one pictured above were put up throughout the Barangays of the Hacienda and remain to this day (the above picture was taken in April 2012).However the security measures did not stop the carnage. On the 17th of March, 2006, Tirso Cruz, the ULWU leader who led the protests against the incursion of the Subic, Clark, Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX), known locally as the Noynoy Superhighway, on Hacienda Luisita land, was shot to death in front of his father and brother.The bloodbath concluded with the murder of Bishop Alberto Ramento, supporter of the Hacienda Luisita workers and vocal critic of the prior priest killing. He was stabbed 7 times by his assailants.To this day and in spite of eye witness identification in two of these events, no charges have ever been filed against anyone in relation to any of these crimes. The 2005 Supreme Court Decision The original petition the farm workers submitted lay dormant at the DAR since it was filed in December 2003, but began to move after the November 2004 massacre. The DARs Task Force Luisita conducted an investigation and focus group discussions among the farm workers, between the 25th of November 2004 and the 22nd of February, 2005. In July 2005 the Cojuangco Aquinos open door to Malacanang Palace slammed shut, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was angered that her former supporter, Cory Aquino, had joined the growing number of anti-Arroyo demonstrators, who were alleging large scale corruption and plunder, as well as election fraud in the 2004 election against the President. The Arroyo-Aquino alliance broke up on the same month Task Force Luisita submitted the findings and recommendations from its investigation, which became the Governments basis for revoking Luisitas Stock Distribution Option (SDO) and ordering the distribution of the Haciendas land to the farmers a few months later.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

A special legal team was formed by the DAR in August 2005, to review the report submitted by Task Force Luisita. On September the 22nd, 2005, Task Force Luisita recommended the revocation of the

stock distribution agreement forged in May 1989, saying the SDO failed to fulfill the objectives of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law in regard to promoting social justice and improving the lives of the farmers. So on the 22nd of December, 2005, PARC issued Resolution No. 2005-32-01, ordering the revocation of Luisitas SDO agreement and the distribution of the Haciendas land to farmer beneficiaries.In response to that ruling, HLI petitioned the Supreme Court (SC) to prevent the PARC from enforcing the resolution on the 1st of February, 2006. The SC granted HLIs petition and issued a temporary restraining order, preventing the PARC from canceling the SDO agreement in June of that year.Negotiations between the HLI management and some farmers began in June, 2007, after representatives of AMBALA (the Luisita peasants group) and the Supervisory group wrote to DAR that they are amenable to an out-of-court settlement. The Presidency of Benigno Noynoy S Aquino III

Nonoy Aquino

Senator Noynoy Aquino launched his Presidential Campaign in Tarlac on the 9th of February ,2010. During his speach in his family seat he made a commitment that Hacienda Luisita lands would be distributed to small farmers by 2014. Noynoy won the Presidential election on a largely anticorruption platform and was sworn into office as the 15th President of the Philippines on June 30th, 2010. On the 6th of August that year HLI and factions of farmers groups signed a compromise agreement giving the farmers the chance to remain as HLI stockholders, or receive their share of Hacienda Luisita land. Many voted to retain their stocks and receive cash from HLI, only to complain later that they got minuscule amounts.

This petition was countered on the 16th of August HLI petitioned the Supreme Court to approve the compromise deal on the 11th of August. but a faction of the farmers groups who asked the SC to junk the compromise deal because it was signed before the SC had ruled on the validity of the stock distribution option (SDO), one of the two choices offered by HLI to the farmers in the agreement (the other choice was land distribution). The rival faction also questioned the authority of the signatories in the agreement to represent the plantations farmer-beneficiaries. On the 18th of August, 2010, for the first time since the dispute was elevated to the SC in 2006, oral arguments on the Hacienda Luisita case were heard. The SC, in a landmark decision on July the 5th, 2011, upheld the PARCs order revoking HLI.s 1989 stock distribution plan. Under the plan is the stock distribution option agreement that allowed farmers to pick between shares of stock and land. The SC also ordered the DAR to administer the conduct of another referendum in which the 6,296 qualified farm worker beneficiaries can vote whether they want to remain HLI stockholders or receive actual land. The SC said that while the stock distribution plan is nullified, the qualified farmer beneficiaries must still be given the option to choose if they want to remain as stockholders or not. In summation the SC said, While the assailed PARC resolutions effectively nullifying the Hacienda Luisita SDP are upheld, the revocation must, by application of the operative fact principle, give way to the right of the original 6,296 qualified FWBs to choose whether they want to remain as HLI stockholders or not. The Court cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that in 1989, 93% of the FWBs agreed to the SDOA, which became the basis of the SDP approved by PARC. After this decision farmers groups intensified protests, while the Aquino Administrationconcentrated on the Arroyo Administration corruption issue. Through July of 2011, farmers groups set up a camp outside of the DAR Offices in Quezon City. Calls

Protesters demonstrating against the proposed third referendum on the Hacienda in 2011. Photo courtesy of Bullatlat

were made for the DAR to reject the SC order to conduct another referendum. Claims of bribery and coercion were made against the Cojuangcos. UMA (agricultural union) Chair and ULWU President Lito Bais, claimed that HLI supervisor Juanito Luna,was paying P5,000 ($116) to each farmer. Bais said the Cojuangco-Aquinos are now using the Supreme Court decision to sow disunity in Hacienda Luisita. President Aquinos uncle Jose Peping Cojuangco Jr., summoned the heads of the 10 barangays of Hacienda Luisita. Cojuangco had previously made the charge that outsiders and leftists are stirring controversy over the High Courts decision. Cojuangco said that he was dismayed by the declaration of farmers groups that the sprawling sugar plantation in Tarlac should be distributed to them via agrarian reform despite the high courts ruling.Who are these people but outsiders and leftists. Theyre the ones who want to bring President Aquino down and destabilize our country, he was quoted by the media. On the 20th of July AMBALA filed a motion for reconsideration, on the Supreme Court decision ordering the Department of Agrarian Reform to hold a referendum in Hacienda Luisita and allow the farmers to choose between owning shares of stocks or land parcels. In asking the SC to reverse its decision, the AMBALA said, there is no reason for the Court to declare that the Stock Distribution Option Agreement (SDOA) was not revoked and that it was only the Stock Distribution Plan (SDP) and Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) resolution approving it that was canceled. On the 28th of July farmers groups led by AMBALA spokesperson Rodel Mesa, called on the newly appointed ombudsman, retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales, to reopen the Luisita Massacre case. Mesa said that after seven years, not a single government or armed forces

official has been held liable for the massacre and or for the injuries sustained by hundreds of others when elements strongly suspected of being members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) opened fire on the farmworkers manning the picket line in front of the sugar mill Central Azucarera de Tarlac. The farmworkers were at the time holding a strike demanding that the management led by President Benigno Aquino IIIs Cojuangco relatives proceed with negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and reinstate almost 320 members and newly elected United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU) officials who were fired for participating in the strike. On the 24th of November the SC released its decision on the farmers petition for reconsideration. Voting 14-0, the SC granted their petition and unanimously ordered the distribution of 4,916 hectares of Hacienda Luisita lands to the original 4,296 original farmworker beneficiaries (FWBs). It modified its July 5, 2011 ruling ordering the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to hold a referendum to let the Luisita farmers choose between owning shares of stocks in Hacienda Luisita Inc. or getting portions of the more than 6,000-hectare estate. After the SC issued its ruling President Aquino said there should be just compensation for the land owners. When asked by media to react on the SC decision, Aquino said, In agrarian reform, there are two objectives: number one, empower the farmers so that they could have their own land to till. Second, dont exhaust the capital. There should be just compensation for the land owner. The capital that will be returned to the landowner could be used to invest in other endeavors. HLI, whilst saying that they would adhere to the SC decision filed an injunction seeking compensation at 2006 prices, as opposed to the 1989 land prices specified in the ruling. In essence HLI were seeking compensation of around P 10 billion. President Aquino, speaking on behalf of HLI asserted that this request for compensation was for the benefit of all stock holders, which was inclusive of the farmers who had taken up shares in the company under the SDO. On the 24th of April, 2012, as the impeachment trial of SC Chief Justice Renato Corona was taking place in the Senate. The SC ruled in finality, confirming their November 24th ,2011, decision that the land be distributed to the farmers with compensation at November the 21st ,1989, prices. On the 29th of May, 2012, Renato Corona, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was found guilty in his impeachment trial, by Senate, convened as an impeachment court. Corona was deemed to be guilty of Article 2 of the initial 8 articles of impeachment (5 of the 8 articles of impeachment were

withdrawn by the prosecution on the 29th of February, of the remaining 3, 2 were directly concerned with impartiality in regard to former President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo), betrayal of public trust and / or culpable violation of the constitution on the second article of impeachment, that he failed to disclosed to the public his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth as required under the constitution. In spite of Coronas legal argument, that this issue concerned his non -declaration of US Dollar accounts, which were exempt from disclosure under legislation passed in 1973, which he claimed to still be valid as his dollar holdings represented investment accounts that he and his wife had initiated in 1967. The Corona impeachment had been launched under the Aquino governments supposed pursuit of justice for the reported crimes, corruption and abuses linked to former president Gloria MacapagalArroyo. Corona is known as a staunch political ally of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. His career and wealth reportedly flourished under Arroyo, culminating in his being named as Supreme Court Justice in the last few weeks of Arroyos disputed term, and after the 2010 poll, in what is known in the Philippines as a midnight appointment. The National Union of Peoples Lawyers (NUPL) said Filipinos had supported the impeachment complaint against Corona primarily because they view Corona as a hindrance in the peoples drive to hold Arroyo accountable for her crimes against the people. Secretary General of the NUPL, Edra Olalia stated that After the failed attempt to smuggle Arroyo out of the country through an arbitrarily issued temporary restraining order on the hold departure order issued by the Department of Justice against Arroyo, the people called and sought for an independent Supreme Court and a propeople judiciary. As the impeachment unfolded, critics such as the NUPL noted that for Aquino, the impeachment is apparentlynot so much about Coronas subservience to Gloria Macapagal -Arroyo nor his role and influence in the Supreme Courts alleged accommodation of Arroyo as it is about Hacienda Luisita.
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