Protesting Luisita farm workers backed by NDF?

HACIENDA LUISITA, Tarlac — In an obvious attempt to further fuel the outrage of thousands of farm-workers here protesting the drastic cutback imposed by the management on their working days, a communist-led underground group declared that this Cojuangco-owned sugar plantation has again become "a fertile ground for an armed revolution."

The outlawed Pambansang Katipunan ng mga Magbubukid (PKM) said in a statement that "agrarian revolution within the framework of the national democratic struggle is the only solution to the problems of Hacienda Luisita’s farm-workers."

PKM is the peasant arm of the National Democratic Front (NDF), the political wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Since May 20, thousands of farm-workers from the 10 barangays covered by this sugar plantation started marching in the streets here to protest the drastic reduction in their working hours.

Protest leaders said that under their collective bargaining agreement (CBA), the more than 5,000 farm-workers here are guaranteed with 423,393 working days per year, or an average of six working days per worker per month. However, with the new work policy, each farm-worker is now only allowed to work in sugarcane fields for an average of three hours per week, or at least two to three days a month. Every farm-worker here receives a salary of P194.50 for every eight-hour day of work, and therefore, under the new policy, each of them would only be receiving an average salary of P73 per week, or at least P291.75 per month.

The protests here escalated after negotiations between rally leaders and the Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI) management bogged down, prompting the deployment of heavily-armed policemen and soldiers from the Army’s 69th Infantry Battalion.

In further stirring up the protests, the PKM-NDF told the farm-workers that launching an "agrarian revolution (here) will gradually weaken the stronghold of the landlords." It said that "agrarian revolution is exercising the people’s Red political authority (and) warmly supporting the New People’s Army (NPA)."

The NPA is the CPP’s armed wing.

At the same time, the communist-led peasant group warned Francisco "Boy" Sigua, president of the United Luisita Workers’ Union (ULWU), for allegedly betraying the protesting farm-workers when he refused to support their three-week demonstrations.

Sigua and a policeman-bodyguard actually survived an ambush sometime last year right inside this sugar plantation. The NPA’s local command claimed responsibility for the failed assassination attempt.

The PKM-NDF also scored Tarlac second district Rep. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino Jr., only son of former President Corazon Aquino and whose family owns this hacienda, for backing the formation of civilian militia squads under the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU).

During the late 1980s when Mrs. Aquino was the President, a plebiscite held here led to the implementation of the stock-distribution (SDO) scheme after the land-distribution option (LDO) was defeated.