Before the coffin bearing the remains of Tarlac City Councilor Abel Ladera, the ninth Hacienda Luisita martyr, was buried, it was opened for his family and barriomates one last time. It took however almost an hour before the people could finish their goodbye: young ones took pictures of him with their cellular phones; the older ones patted the coffin, with whispers of “Salamat po, salamat po” (thank you, thank you) while a woman asked with a break in her voice, “Bakit ka nila pinatay, wala na kaming kasama.” (Why did they kill you, we no longer have someone to help us.)
Category: Agrarian Reform
Tarlac Councilor Is 9th Luisita Martyr; Victim’s Kin Finger Cojuangcos, Military as Suspects
From his humble beginnings as a sugar worker, City Councilor Abelardo R. Ladera emerged as one of the few successful local political figures who openly stood against the Cojuangco-Aquino dynasty in Tarlac. Ladera was gunned down at high noon of March 3 making him Tarlac’s first local official assassinated in the post-dictator era.
5,000 Luisita Workers To Lose Jobs in Cojuangco-Arroyo Land Plan
A land use plan which contains the comprehensive land conversion of the entire Hacienda Luisita into a commercial and industrial complex will likely force more than 5,000 plantation workers out of their jobs. The LUP includes President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTE). BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Bulatlat.com A land use plan (LUP) which contains the comprehensive…
Fields of Cane, Fields of Struggle
Sa Ngalan ng Tubo is action-packed and is never dragging. The music is at one time stirring and at another, solemn. Truly, the film portrays a history unfolding – and the strikers as the makers of history.
Battleground Gate 1: 78 days – and still on strike
Gate 1 of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac, where seven lay dead after the Nov. 16 carnage, remains as the battleground between the Cojuangcos and the striking sugar mill and farm workers. This is where hundreds of battle-scarred strikers have held their ground since Nov. 6 and even non-striking workers say unless this gate is…
KAPITBISIG: A Campaign for Justice to the Victims of the Hacienda Luisita Massacre
UNITY STATEMENT We denounce the bloody dispersal of the strike at the Hacienda Luisita (HL) last November 16, 2004 by elements of the AFP, the PNP and HL security guards that left seven dead, scores wounded and more than a hundred illegally arrested from the ranks of the mill workers and farm laborers. We deplore…
The Hazards of Toiling for the Cojuangcos
A lost foot, a lost job and a threat to lose his home. This tale of a sugar mill worker at the Central Azucarera de Tarlac brings to fore the miserable conditions that bug the work force of Luzon’s largest sugar refinery. BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Bulatlat.com It was 30 minutes past midnight on Feb. 7,…
Battleground Gate 1 78 days – and still on strike
Gate 1 of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac, where seven lay dead after the Nov. 16 carnage, remains as the battleground between the Cojuangcos and the striking sugar mill and farm workers. This is where hundreds of battle-scarred strikers have held their ground since Nov. 6 and even non-striking workers say unless this gate is…
‘Cojuangcos Can’t Scare Us’ – Union Leaders Church group asks GMA to back workers’ demands
Union workers of Hacienda Luisita have accused the Cojuangco family– owners of the plantation and sugar mill in Tarlac – and armed authorities as being behind the series of physical harassment against strikers. BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Bulatlat.com Union workers of Hacienda Luisita have accused the Cojuangco family– owners of the plantation and sugar mill in…
Luisita Survivors: Ombudsman’s Biggest Group of Complainants
The Office of the Ombudsman has now the biggest number of complainants since it was formed during the last years of martial law: 52 farmers, survivors and relatives of seven victims in the Nov. 16 Hacienda Luisita massacre. BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Bulatlat.com The Office of the Ombudsman has now the biggest number of complainants since…
No Turning Back Workers Defy Sto. Tomas’ Order
After their strike was declared “illegal” by the labor department, mill workers at the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita face mass lay-off. The workers have vowed to defy the DoLE order and to maintain their two-month long strike. BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Bulatlat.com Still hurting from the gunshot wound he sustained when police and military forces tried to…