Bayan said that Aquino, as the appointing authority, should immediately remove from office those officials facing charges for past scams. “The lingering perception is that many Aquino appointees who get into trouble for past and present misdeeds are treated with kid gloves, especially if they fall within the KKK category,” Reyes said.

“The only source of disorder on the Hacienda Luisita issue are the Cojuangco-Aquinos who intend to rewrite history, deprive the farmworkers of their rightful claim, continue to terrorize by using the military, on the other hand, the agents of reform and change are the farmworkers and their supporters who propose a better future for their next generation,” Joseph Canlas, AMGL chairman said.

In view of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) fund controversy wherein huge amounts of money were expended in rather questionable ventures, ACT Teachers Party-List Representative Antonio L. Tinio said that the so-called ‘intelligence fund’ amounting to P325 million could have helped the shortages of critical school inputs such as classrooms.

Quoting reports coming from Hacienda Luisita farmers and farm workers, UMA chair Lito Bais, said that a certain Juanito Luna, a supervisor of HLI, is paying P5,000 each farmer. At the same time, Buena Timbol, secretary of HLI vice-President for administration Ernesto Teopaco, President Aquino’s uncle, has summoned Barangay Captains in the 10 barangays (villages) of Hacienda Luisita.

“DAR’s mandate is to process land distribution and not organize such referendum that is totally contradictory to land reform. Pushing farmers to being stockholders to a corporation established by the Stock Distribution Option (SDO) is like pushing them to jump over a hill to their death,” said Joseph Canlas, AMGL chairperson.

“While President Aquino continue to keep mum on the Supreme Court’s highly deceptive ruling, his relatives are very busy sowing disunity among Hacienda Luisita farmers and farm workers,” says KMP secretary-general Danilo Ramos.

Senator Francis Pangilinan presented for the consideration of the NDFP his proposals for solving socio-economic and political problems and his reasons why there is hope for the Philippines.

“Up to now, Luisita farmers still have to hear a word from the OSG and the DAR on what steps they are going to take…” says KMP secretary general Danilo Ramos. “The President must stop his political posturing through a so-called hands-off policy. Aquino’s continuing silence on the pro-Cojuangco SC decision is tantamount to siding with his relatives.”

By JESSICA EVANS | Human Rights Watch
One year ago, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III became the Philippines’ president after pledging to introduce reforms to protect people’s basic rights. But the longtime problem of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances with clear links to the military continues. The military denies any involvement, and police investigations into these crimes inevitably stall.