DANDING COJUANGCO
VOLTAIRE GAZMIN'
NONOY PALABOY
AYAW NILANG NAG-KOKOMENT ANG MGA TAO SA PROBLEMA NG BANSA. THEY WILL TRY TO INTIMIDATE YOU SO THAT YOU WILL KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT.
EVEN IF THEY HAVE TO BOMB YOUR CITY.
THE ACTS OF BOMBING HAD BEEN CALCULATED TO ACHIEVE 2 MAJOR THINGS:
FIRST, TO CREATE A WEDGE BETWEEN THE MNLF LIVING IN DAVAO AND THE PEACEFUL DABAWENYOS, THEREBY ISOLATING COMMUNITIES OF PEOPLE AND CAUSING DIVISIONS AND RIFTS AMONG AND BETWEEN THEM (CONSEQUENTLY WEAKENING THE MNLF) AND;
SECOND, TO WARN THE CITY GOVERNMENT AND THE FREEDOM- LOVING CITIZENS OF DAVAO NOT TO COMMENT OR MAKE PUBLIC PROTEST ON THE MISHANDLING OF THE ZAMBOANGA CRISIS.
Activist party-list group Anakpawis yesterday
slammed the grave abuse of power by the Department of Agrarian Reform
(DAR) to dictate the ongoing process to audit Hacienda Luisita Inc.
(HLI).
The group said the DAR is continuously pushing the two audit firms
that have previous link to the Cojuangco’s HLI to participate in its de
facto bidding procedure.
In a statement, Anakpawis party-list vice
chairman Fernando Hicap said the DAR is extending its “power trip” up to
the point that it is meddling on the ongoing process to choose an
independent audit firm to look into HLI records.
Such records
supposedly pertain to the P1.33 billion HLI owes to farm worker
beneficiaries for the selling of more than 500 hectares of land parcel
to Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) and North Luzon
Expressway (Nlex) management.
“Despite the resounding and majority decision of parties involved in
the auditing process namely the Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa
loob ng Asyenda Luisita, 1989 Original Farmer Beneficiaries, Farmers for
Agrarian Reform Movement, Inc., Luisita Supervisory Union of Hacienda
Luisita Inc., the United Luisita Workers Union, and by Mr. Noel Mallari
to get the Ocampo, Mendoza, Leung, Lim and Co. service to look into
HLI’s records.
DAR quickly rejected the groups’ position and
maintained that the Reyes-Tacandong and Co and the KPMG with a local
counterpart Manabat Sanagustin and Co. — two firms that previously
audited HLI — can apply for the job” Hicap said.
Anakpawis said the
move by the DAR to bypass the decision of the majority of the
stakeholders is beyond its mandate and runs counter with the farm
workers interest.
“It is not only DAR delaying the process but its
also making the beneficiaries powerless. The DAR once again shows its
brazen arrogance and contempt over their clients’ prerogative. It is an
abuse of their mandate,” the group said.
But the activist party-list
group expressed optimism the auditing process will be convincing and
acceptable to involved parties if DAR should end its politicking and
keep HLI out of the picture.
“Clearly, the Cojuangco-led HLI dictates
the phase of the audit process. DAR was merely their instrument to
legitimize its part on the auditing despite it is the one subjected for
financial scrutiny. Just like their maneuvers on the distribution
process. This is their gameplan to deliberately mislead the process to
prolong the audit because the president and his relatives have no plans
to open HLI books of records unless it is done by no other than their
trusted cohorts inside the Reyes-Tacandong and KPMG to absolve them on
paying the P1.33 billion they owed to the farm worker beneficiaries. HLI
and its audit firm cohorts should be banned from the process,” Hicap
said.
Meanwhile, braving the 37-degree summer heat, more than 200
Hacienda Luisita farmers and supporters started their caravan to Manila
this morning, according to militant Web site bulatlat.com.
Dubbed as
“Lakbayan para sa Libreng Pamamahagi ng Lupa sa Hacienda Luisita,” the
activity marks the first year of the Supreme Court decision ordering the
distribution of some 6,000-hectare sugar plantation controlled by the
family of President Aquino.
Led by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng
Pilipinas (KMP), Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura UMA, Alyansa ng
mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) and the United
Luisita Workers Union (ULWU), the farmers started their march from
Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac province.
As of yesterday afternoon, the marchers have reached San Nicolas Church in Capas, Tarlac.
They were expected to arrive and spend the night in Angeles City in Pampanga.
“It
has been a year since the Supreme Court decided to distribute the
Hacienda and we are back on the streets to continue our fight for the
free distribution of lands,” ULWU chairman Lito Bais said in a
statement.
“We cannot trust the DAR to distribute the lands as it is
clearly an instrument of the Cojuangco-Aquinos to perpetuate their
control over our lands,” Bais said.
In the same vein, Anakpawis Rep.
Rafael Mariano said, “There is no truth to the Department of Agrarian
Reform’s claim that the distribution of Hacienda Luisita is on track.
Twelve months after the SC decision, farmworker-beneficiaries are still
waiting in vain to own the lands that they have tilled for decades.”
The DAR is mandated to implement the high court decision, released in February, the final list of beneficiaries.
A
week after, Agrarian Reform Sec.Virgilio delos Reyes said farm workers
will not get any land if they will not sign a written commitment to pay
for the land and to make it productive.
“As long as Aquino controls
the DAR and the sham Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program remains, the
farm workers should be ready for another protracted battle to reclaim
Hacienda Luisita from the Cojuangcos,” KMP deputy sec. gen. Willy
Marbella said.
The famers also challenged senatorial candidates to
replace the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) with “a new and
genuine agrarian reform law to realize the free distribution of
Hacienda Luisita.”
“The bogus CARP is the biggest stumbling block to Hacienda Luisita’s distribution,” Marbella said.
He
maintained that “the CARP was crafted by the Cojuangcos” to evade the
distribution of the sugar plantation to its farm workers.
In 1989,
during the administration of the late president Corazon Aquino, the
Cojuangcos made use of the stock distribution option scheme of the CARP
to evade actual land distribution.”
“Today, the Cojuangcos are making
use of the provisions of the CARP to deny the farm workers of their
hard-earned legal victory,” Marbella said.





























