The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and its local chapter Alyansa ng Manggagawang-bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA) reiterated their call for the military pull-out in Hacienda Luisita, in lieu of another spate of military harassment in the plantation.

 According to Rene “Ka Boyet” Galang, concurrent president of AMBALA and the United Luisita Worker’s Union (ULWU), “Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM) soldiers led by Lt. Colonel Gerald Velez assaulted striking workers in Brgy. Mapalacsiao around 11 am yesterday. Velez ordered that the rice and vegetables being cooked for lunch by the workers be dumped and his men burned the uncooked rice. When Brgy. Councilor Jose Romero tried to intercede for the farm-workers he was strangled by Velez. Two other farm workers were manhandled and punched by Velez, yelling at them to leave the hacienda and saying that the farm workers are communists,”

“We are afraid that this type of harassment will only intensify, unless the military is pulled out from the plantation. For example, this incident started when ULWU members refused to accept the few pesos payment being offered for their land to be used for the Subic-Clark Tarlac Expressway. This is a priority project of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and she is using the military to intimidate the farm workers whose lands would be hit by the expressway,” added the peasant leader.

Meanwhile Danilo “Ka Daning” Ramos, secretary general of KMP, “while this is what’s happening in Hacienda Luisita, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has still not decided to junk the stock distribution option (SDO) and still squeezing every drop of media mileage it can get from the issue. What are they waiting for? Are they waiting for another massacre to happen?

“All this media hype being done by the DAR regarding the SDO issue should now be stopped and they should junk the SDO now, after which the land should be distributed free of any charge to the farm workers of the plantation,” ended Ramos. # # #
 

KMP - 20 September 2005