HACIENDA LUISITA IN MEMORIAM

Having another Cojuangco in Malacañang is fitting as most would say. They are a family built with strong political influence. For a starter, we have the revered Pres. Cory Aquino, Sen. Noynoy Aquino and the NPC Chairman Emeritus Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco, who is financing another 2010 presidentiable- Se. Chiz Escudero. Among the three, Cory was said to have fascinated the entire state. In fact, the charm of Cory, as hard it is to admit had helped bury the Hacienda Luisita caboodle. The public got drunk of the EDSA-1 victory over the despotic Marcoses that the landlord-tenant tragedy in Tarlac was made politically insignificant.

The 6,400 hectare azucarera owned by the Cojuango’s was bought of the 5.9 million peso loan of Don Jose Cojuangco in the 1950s. As stipulated on Don Jose’s agreement with the Government Service Insurance System or (GSIS), around 4,000 ha of the hacienda should have been apportioned to its tenants. But fortunately, Cojuangco chose to bend the agreement for their advantage. And this was evident just as the widow of Se. Ninoy Aquino and champion of EDSA-1 assumed the presidency. No matter how the Cojuangco’s deny the obvious exploitation of the executive privileges particularly as one of their heiress was seated in power, evidence of injustice and clear manhandling of the then celebrated case of the government against the owners of Luisita could not just be swept under the rug.

Former MAR or Ministry of Agrarian Reform (better known today as the Department of Agrarian Reform or DAR) officials to include Jose Santos who assisted in the filing of the civil case against the Cojuangco’s under the Manila RTC claimed that the court would have favored the complaining farmers of Luisita. All the right evidence is actually in place except for the “ignoble” exploitation of the 1986’s shift of political leadership that favored the Cojuangco’s. Pres. Aquino overhauled MAR that included the ascension of the Cojuangco’s legal counsel- Sedfrey Ordoñez as Solicotor General. The shift of power that included an “expected” revamp in the very agency that forcefully pushed for the civil case against the Cojuangco’s was the very reason why the Hacienda Luisita legal thug met its stalemate. So far, greater injustice other than a buy-out in MAR took place. This had to do with the creation of CARP or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program that more or less grabbed the Luisita farmers of their right to own a piece of abode.

Hacienda Luisita among everything else was Pres. Cory’s unpopular “oversight”. And apparently, the Filipinos who paid no interest on the Hacienda Luisita’s case were partly to be blamed.

The November 2004 “blood-spill” in Hacienda Luisita strikes a chord of feudal lords’ repression. Poor farmers who chose death as leverage for a piece of land show frantic desperation. The vast azucarera which was bought out people’s money is now being greedily milked by a few discontented well-offs. And just what an odd scene it is for another Cojuangco heir to claim that he is symbol of just change and victor of the oppressed. How would a man claim that he can clean an entire country of prejudice when he condones it right at his very backyard? Political power is no match to public will. The 2010 presidency should not be made as another scapegoat for the Cojuangco’s to relive their CARP and once again deny the Luisita farmers of their right.