THE Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura again slammed the Aquino administration’s land reform program and cited the distribution of land the Hacienda Luisita, owned by the family of President Benigno Aquino III, as a “sham.”
“A closer look at the situation of the so-called beneficiaries will reveal that land distribution in Luisita under the Benigno S. Aquino regime has been a complete sham,” said UMA official Gi Estrada. “We urge concerned citizens to closely monitor developments in Hacienda Luisita and join us in keeping the public informed on the most recent through social media.”
“We suppose that it is public knowledge that Hacienda Luisita farmers are still fighting for genuine land reform and justice,” he said.
“Concerned citizens [netizens], however, may not be fully aware that it has been years since the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision for total land distribution in Hacienda Luisita was made final and executory on April 24, 2011.”
UMA slammed the Aquino administration for a private-public partnership project to build the Tarlac solar power plant in the disputed lands.
Last March, PetroSolar, the private firm tasked to put up the project with the Department of Energy, is owned “the same Aquino business partners claiming ownership of the questioned lands,” Estrada said.