Groups condemn demolition of farmworkers' homes in Negros

 

LA CASTELLANA, NEGROS OCCIDENTAL - Civil society groups working on agrarian reform and rural development condemn the illegal demolition and the sustained harassment of farmworkers of Hacienda Vicenta, Sitio Cambagting, Barangay Cabacungan, La Castellana on August 10, 2022.

 

Kaisahan-Negros, Partido Manggagawa-Negros, Dagyaw Paralegals, and the Negros Occidental Federation of Farmer Associations denounced the “illegal, inhumane, and violent demolition” of the homes of Hacienda Vicenta farmworkers, because there was no court order presented and the demolition proceeded even though children were still inside their houses.

 

Based on the sworn affidavit of Deana Estrada, 53, one of the residents and farmworkers in the hacienda, her niece called her home as unknown men were destroying her house on the morning of August 10, Wednesday.

 

Despite pleas to delay the demolition because children were inside the house, the unknown men continued to destroy their home.

 

”Nagtawag siya liwat nga guba na ang akon balay,” Estrada continued.

 

“The perpetrators didn’t care and didn’t show any remorse even if they may have killed an innocent child in the process of destroying the homes and harassing the farmers,” said Inday Goco, the Secretary-General of PM-Negros.

 

According to the residents, the perpetrators also threatened them, saying they were only getting started and that there would be more attacks to come.

 

“Nagkadto ako sa barangay para mangayo bulig pero hambal sang sekretarya wala didto si Kapitan gani nagkadto ako sa Cabacungan Police Station pero naghambal sila  nga indi sila kabulig kag ginpabalik ako sa  Barangay para  magparecord,” Estrada lamented.

 

“It is unfortunate and very disappointing that the duty-bearers and law enforcers didn’t stay true to their mandate to ‘serve and protect’ the farmers asking for their help,” Goco expressed.

 

“This incident is also a call to action for the Department of Agrarian Reform because if only the land claims of the farmers were swiftly and rightfully resolved, such violence need not happen,” noted Jec Magbato of KAISAHAN-Negros.

 

DAR's processing of their land claims was halted because of the Land Use Cases Committee’s decision granting the application for conversion of LN Agustin, the landowner.

 

KAISAHAN argues that since the land is irrigated, as certified by National Irrigation Administration, it should have never been converted.  Under the CARL or R.A. 6657, irrigated and irrigable lands are considered "non-negotiable for conversion."

 

The groups also urged the respective government agencies, such as DAR, the security sector, and the local government, to act on the land claims of the farmworkers and an investigation on the incident that occurred in Hacienda Vicenta. They sscommit to work with the agencies and the community for the protection and peaceful resolution of their land rights claim. #

 

Partido Manggagawa - Negros

State of Negros: The rise of ‘new sacadas’ belies SONA claim of PNoy on labor

NEWS RELEASE

Partido Manggagawa-Negros

28 July 2015

The rise of ‘new sacadas’ in Negros belie the claim of President Aquino during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) yesterday that the country is now moving from cheap labor to high-tech producer.

Fresh from the joint consultation-workshop on the state of sugar workers held in Bacolod City last Sunday, the Negros chapter of Partido Manggagawa (PM-Negros) and the Sentro ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa (Sentro) described as ‘first world falsehood’ the assertion of the President that high-tech production is taking over cheap labor that for a long time characterized the Philippine labor force.

“What country are you talking about, Mr. President?  Negros is now home to BPOs yet the island remains a country of sacadas,” said the two groups in a statement.

It is clear, according to PNoy, “The Filipino can now compete.  Previously our only selling point was cheap labor.  Now factories for high-tech equipment are coming here, from airplane parts, electrical tricycles, printers, and other digital media products to high-quality medical devices.”

During their Sunday consultation, PM-Negros presented a study that pointed to the rise of ‘new sacadas’ in Negros resulting from the dismal failure of agrarian reform in the island as well as the massive contractualization of farm works in the Sugarlandia.

“The old dumaans (regular workers) were replaced by tens of thousands and contractual workers. And the migrant sacadas that mainly came from Panay and other neighboring provinces before are now replaced by inland sacadas -- a phenomenon that suggests a downside shift in labor relations in the island,” explained the group.

According to PM-Negros, the ‘new sacadas’ of Negros is represented now by tens of thousands of contractual farm workers who comprise at least 80% of the total workforce in sugar plantations in the island.  They receive not more than P150 per day working as planters, weeders, fertilizer applicators, harvesters and haulers.

“Until the late 90s, Negros sourced its shortage of sacadas from outside of the island but now the internal labor market is heavily populated with contractual, seasonal and mobile workers who perform work previously done by regular workers or the dumaans,” said the two groups.

For PM and Sentro, the combination of failed agrarian reform and the onslaught of contractualization schemes created this phenomenon as workers who were displaced due to massive retrenchments lost their employee-employer relationship (EER) and eventually their right to become land reform beneficiaries. 

“This condition left at least 100,000 hectares with no more agrarian reform beneficiaries to claim the lands, creating in effect an army of sacadas that hop from one hacienda to another around the island to find work,” explained the group.

This state of sugar workers in Negros, added the groups, is further threatened by the expected adverse impact of Asean integration on Philippine agriculture once the zero tariff regime begins to be implemented this year.

“We expect massive job loss once the country’s sugar industry fails to survive the intense competition with Thai and Vietnamese sugar,” said PM.

The saddest point, said PM and Sentro, is to hear the SONAs of the past and present Presidents, without any mention of the pressing problems in Negros, specifically the life of sugar workers.

“Ang problema namon, amon lang gid problema. Isa kami sa halimbawa sang SONA nga indi matalupangdan,” concluded the group.

PALEA calls on senators to hear PAL testimony

Press Release

February 23, 2012

PALEA

The Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) called on the senators sitting as judges in the impeachement trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona to reconsider and hear the testimony of Philippine Airlines (PAL) management. PALEA also defended its lawyer, Atty. Marlon Manuel, for appearing as a private prosecutor in the trial. “We call on any of the senators who does not have a platinum card in his or her wallet to stand up for truth and move that PAL testify regarding the privileges given to CJ Corona and his wife,” said Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and vice chair of Partido ng Manggagawa.

Meanwhile more than a hundred PALEA members trooped this morning to the Department of Agrarian Reform national office in Quezon City to support scores of peasant leaders who are calling for the resolution of land reform cases, including the distribution of Hacienda Luisita. “It is the alliance of the 99%, the workers and the farmers, which will usher in change in our society that has been made rotten by the corruption and greed of the 1%,” explained Rivera.

He also insisted that the testimony of PAL VP for Sales, Enrique Javier, is relevant in Article 3 of the impeachment complaint since “The platinum card is directly related to the Pilato-num decision of the Supreme Court on the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association (FASAP) case.” Two weeks ago, PALEA had already challenged PAL to appear at the impeachment trial after FASAP president Roberto Anduiza accused CJ Corona of influencing the Supreme Court.

In reply to the House minority’s criticism of Atty. Manuel’s appearance as a private prosecutor, Rivera clarified that PALEA has no “axe to grind” and “vested interest” in ousting CJ Corona since their case against PAL’s outsourcing plan is pending at the Court of Appeals not the Supreme Court. “Rep. Danilo Suarez should get his facts right before he speaks. He might be accused of being one of the government officials given platinum cards, as defense lawyers have declared. Within PAL, it is said that only those who are FOB’s or friends of the boss receive a platinum card as a gift,” Rivera argued.

PALEA has previously staged rallies at the impeachment trial and called for “Reforms beyond Gloria and Corona.” Rivera averrred that “Corona and PNoy may be fighting over the fate of Gloria Arroyo and Hacienda Luisita but both are beholden to Lucio Tan. With a mere letter from PAL’s lawyer Estelito Mendoza, Corona’s Supreme Court recalled the ruling in favor of the 1,800 flight attendants of FASAP. But also on the mere say-so from PAL that it is losing money even when the facts deny it, Aquino’s government betrayed the 2,600 ground crew of PALEA.”

He added that “The people want to believe that the prosecution of Gloria and her minions like Corona is the start of fundamental reforms. But without any signs of real changes then such is mere wishful thinking.”

Workers demand reforms beyond Gloria and Corona

Press Statement

February 2, 2012

Gerry Rivera

PALEA President

In the face of the ongoing impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, workers demand “Reforms beyond Gloria and Corona.” Workers want not just the prosecution of Gloria Arroyo and her minions but the cleansing of all corrupt officials in the bureaucracy and further the institution of radical changes in the political and economic system.

Without such thoroughgoing reforms then the purging of Gloria’s followers would just pave the way for the embedding of PNoy’s own cronies in government. As it stands now, the so-called campaign for good governance by PNoy looks no more than a factional fight among the elite. This is because there is no difference between the regimes of Arroyo and Aquino with regards to labor policy, neoliberal economics and social programs.

The experience of PALEA is enlightening. The decision to allow the controversial outsourcing scheme was upheld by both the labor secretaries of Arroyo and Aquino. Moreover, the Office of the President itself under PNoy affirmed the legality of the PAL’s contractualization scam despite the USD 76.5 million profit for the last fiscal year.

Thus Corona and PNoy may be fighting over the fate of Gloria Arroyo and Hacienda Luisita but both are beholden to Lucio Tan. With a mere letter from PAL’s lawyer Estelito Mendoza, Corona’s Supreme Court recalled the ruling in favor of the 1,800 flight attendants of FASAP. But also on the mere say-so from PAL that it is losing money even when the facts deny it, Aquino’s government betrayed the 2,600 ground crew of PALEA.

The clash between Corona and PNoy looks more like a case of the kettle calling the teapot black and the teapot accusing the kettle of being ebony.

Like the rest of the people, we want to believe that the prosecution of Gloria and her minions is the start of fundamental reforms. But without any signs of real changes then such is mere wishful thinking.

We want to see the prosecution not just of a corrupt chief justice but the purging of labor dealers in the DOLE and NLRC and the imprisonment of killers of labor leaders.

We demand a change in the government’s labor policy so that regular jobs are protected, contractualization is stopped, wages are not frozen, and the freedoms to organize and bargain are guaranteed.

We call for a reversal of the neoliberal economic model that has led to the collapse of our domestic industry and agriculture. Jobs must be generated in the country instead of labor exported abroad through national industrialization, land reform and agricultural modernization.

This will be our call for the coming celebration of Labor Day. To jumpstart the campaign, we will mobilize on Monday for the impeachment trial by carrying the banner of “Justice for workers, Reforms beyond Gloria and Corona.”

Expropriation is the ultimate solution to Hacienda Luisita dispute

July 20, 2011

In the Philippines where big landlords sway both economic and political powers in all levels of society, the idea of putting an end to the age-old old agrarian dispute at Hacienda Luisita through a referendum is neither just nor democratic.

It is a farce.  It is a ploy.  It is a travesty of justice. 

First, the referendum on stocks distribution option (SDO) expressed in the recent Supreme Court decision bolsters rather than weakens the Cojuangcos’ perpetual control of their sprawling 6,435-hectare estate.

Second, Luisita farmers were actually denied justice when the Justices threw the issue back to them in clear breach of their constitutional duty to dispense social justice to the poor farmers.

Third, a referendum was never made a demand by both the farmers and workers of Hacienda Luisita, thus, can never be considered an exercise of democracy.  What they want, on the contrary, is land distribution and not an SDO.

Fourth, the Cojuangcos’ undeniable reign of power all over Tarlac, notwithstanding their present familial grip over Malacanang through PNoy, is what would make the referendum ‘an initiative from above’ and therefore a patently undemocratic political exercise.

The Supreme Court has clearly played mum and deaf on the farmers’ and workers’ cry for agrarian justice.  But more than that, it turned a blind eye on the concept of social justice by wilfully taking the landlords’ side in keeping the SDO scheme alive. 

The SDO was no doubt a brilliant ploy by the Cojuangcos to evade agrarian reform.  The Constitution, as well as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, neither mentioned nor referred to the SDO as another option for land reform.  Thus, it is in the best interest of the Cojuangcos and for other landlords to make the SDO scheme lawful either by legislation or by judicial action.  The Supreme Court may have consciously played into this game.  And this is not acceptable!

The Partido ng Manggagawa stands for democracy and social justice, thus it supports the farmers’ struggle for land and the democratization of the countryside.  Agrarian justice through expropriation or nationalization of lands is a basic democratic demand for it is a struggle against land monopoly and tyranny by the feudal lords.  And more importantly, it is about social justice because agrarian reform, in its true form, commands wealth redistribution thus an empowering tool for social justice and national development.

Unfortunately, agrarian reform in the Philippines was considered a ‘centerpiece’ program which, ironically, has never been at the heart of the past and present administrations.   As such, even a less hostile form of expropriation (with compensation) mandated by law has never been enforced on big landholdings.  Hacienda Luisita is a showcase.  The reason is obvious.  It cannot be enforced because landlords and the elite have been ruling this country since the first republic up to the present.

Without expropriation, Hacienda Luisita cannot be freed from the control of the Cojuangcos.  Without expropriation, Hacienda Luisita cannot be transformed into state or cooperative farms.  Without expropriation, farmers will never enjoy the fruit of their half-century old struggle for land and justice.

Without expropriation, genuine agrarian reform will remain dead.