The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), together with the Alyansa ng Manggagawang-Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA) said that the only time that they would believe the Department of Land Reform’s pronouncement that the government is junking the stock distribution option (SDO) is when we already have a copy of the official document. According to Danilo “Ka Daning” Ramos, secretary general of KMP, “Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is just using the issue to gain some ‘pogi points’ and to get back at Cory but this would not work. The call of the farm-workers in Hacienda Luisita is still ‘OUST GLORIA!’ No amount of bribery or concessions can change that,”

“Besides the main reason for junking the SDO does not lie on Gloria’s vendetta on Cory or to gain ‘pogi points’. The SDO should be junked because it is extremely unjust to farm workers and because we have fought against it for years. Many of our comrades have died in the hacienda fighting for land and our struggle for it cannot be replaced by just the whim of the fake president,” added the peasant leader.

Meanwhile Rene “Ka Boyet” Galang, president of AMBALA and the United Luisita Worker’s Union (ULWU) said “if indeed that the administration is sincere in junking the SDO, then they should not start the pull-out of the military in all the barangays in the hacienda. Since the end of the International Solidarity Mission (ISM) last week, the strikers and Brgy. Balete has been subjected to almost daily harassment operations of the military,”

“Last August 19 at 12 midnight around 15 soldiers surrounded the house of Brgy. Captain Rodel Galang, trying to intimidate him. Around 2 am the following morning there was a commotion in the barangay also because of the military. On August 20,the electric cables on the picket area in Barangay Balete were cut by the military. On August 21, military men threw rocks on the strikers hitting Flaviano Solomon, 45 years old on the head. His fellow strikers brought him to the provincial hospital. Just last night, around 11 pm the military again threw rocks at the picket line, this time hitting Ronal Ricardo, 40 years old, on the forehead also causing a laceration like that of Solomon’s”

“Are these incidents any indication that the government will lift the SDO? If they are really sincere then they should first pull-out the military in the area, if not then we will know that all their pronouncements are just a sham,” ended Galang. ##
 

KMP - 26 August 2005