Tags: bungkalan

After the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council ordered the revocation of the SDO in Hacienda Luisita, the farmer beneficiaries launched what they call a “bungkalan” or the cultivation of idle Luisita land. It was both a political statement and a matter of survival for the farm workers who were facing extreme poverty in the hacienda owned by President Benigno S. Aquino III and his family. Farmers who participated swear that their lives improved after the “bungkalan.” View related slideshow

After the strike ended more than two years ago, the HLI farm workers have been planting rice and vegetables providing them with income and food. But more than the earnings, they find fulfillment in cultivating the land that is rightfully theirs. BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Bulatlat Vol. VII, No. 28, August 19-25, 2007 Hacienda Luisita, Tarlac…

“Tiyaga lang talaga” (patience is all it takes), a cane worker says as he joins other farmers till idle lands waiting to be cultivated in Hacienda Luisita. They would not let the rich soil be left unattended. BY REYNA MAE TABBADA Bulatlat.com The residents of Barangay Asturias, one of the ten barrios in Hacienda Luisita,…

As lawyers haggle over the legality of the revocation of the stock distribution option in Hacienda Luisita, the farm workers continue to reap benefits from tilling the land and earn money from the on-going sugar cane harvest. By Abner Bolos Bulatlat.com As lawyers haggle over the legality of the revocation of the stock distribution option…

Last June, the unions in Hacienda Luisita declared they will encourage and undertake systematic cultivation of portions of idle land in the plantation to produce food crops and stave off hunger during the rainy season. The “bungkalan” (cultivation) immediately became a big hit among hacienda workers’ families, enabling them to buy food and simple household needs.