Partylist kinokontrol ng mga mayayaman

Nina BTaguinod/DMatining/RMiranda (Abante) 

http://abante.com.ph/issue/mar2510/news04.htm

PUERTO PRINCESA --- Nakokontrol na ng mga mayayaman ang partylist system dahil inaagawan na ng mga ito ng pagkakataon ang mga margina­lized sector na magkaroon ng kinatawan sa Mababang Kapulungan ng Kongreso.

Ito ang pahayag ni da­ting Pangulong Joseph Estrada na nagbantang kanyang paaamyendahan ang partylist law kapag siya ang nanalong pangulo ng bansa sa Mayo at hara­ngin ang mga mayayaman na maging congressman gamit ang sistemang ito.

“Siguro kailangan sa next Congress kailangan pag-aralan nang mabuti ang partylist, eh ang iba, are taking advantage of it. Ang partylist eh suppo­sedly para sa marginalized representatives. Eh puro mayayaman so ginagamit lang ang partylist to dominate Congress,” pahayag ni Estrada.

Inihalimbawa nito si Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel ‘Mikey’ Arroyo na first nominee ng Ang Galing Pinoy partylist at tiyahin nito na si Kasangga partylist Rep. Ma. Lourdes Arroyo na walang maniniwalang galing ang mga ito sa marginalized sector.

Nais din umano nitong paimbestigahan kung bakit lahat ng mga kakampi ni Arroyo na nagtayo ng partylist organization ay agad na inaprubahan ng Commission on Elections (Comelec) samantala ang iba na galing talaga, aniya, sa margina­lized sector ay ibinasura ang aplikasyon.

Noynoy ibinisto ng pinsan sa 'Luisita'

mula sa Pilipino Star Ngayon  

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=560152&publicationSubCategoryId=92
MANILA, Philippines - Kinuwestiyon ni Anak­pawis Rep. Rafael Mariano ang katotohanan sa mga sinabi ni Liberal Party pre­sidential ber Sen. Noynoy Aquino na ipamama­hagi niya sa 2014 sa mga mag­sasaka ang 6,000 hektarya ng kanilang lupain na saklaw ng agrarian reform na hinaharang ng kanilang pamilya sa Korte Suprema.

Ito’y matapos ilathala ng pahayagang New York Times sa United States ang pag-amin ng isang kamag-anak ni Noy­noy na hindi nila ipama­mahagi ang lupain sa mga magsasaka, taliwas sa ipinahayag ng pambato ng Liberal Party sa May 10 elections.

Sa panayam ni Carlos Conde, correspondent ng NYT sa Pilipinas, sinabi ni Fernando Cojuangco, pin­san ni Noynoy at chief operating officer ng holding company sa taniman ng tubo sa Luisita, na mala­bong isuko ng kanilang pamilya ang lupain na hawak nila mula pa noong 1958.

Bagaman kinontra ni Noynoy ang ulat sa NYT na posible umanong nagkamali lamang ang sumulat sa mga sinabi ng kanyang pinsan, nanindigan si Conde na tama at naka-record ang mga inihayag ni Fernando.

Sinabi ni Mariano na nagkamali si Noynoy sa gi­nawang pangako dahil hindi na nito malilinlang ang mga magsasaka na dapat sanang nakikinabang sa lupain.

Patuloy din umano ang paghahanap ng katarungan ng mga magsasaka na napaslang sa hacienda kabilang ang pitong nasawi sa welga noong 2004 at iba pang biktima ng asasinasyon pagkatapos nito. (Butch Quejada)

Villar allies slam Aquino over Hacienda Luisita

By Gil C. Cabacungan Jr. (Philippine Daily Inquirer) 

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100317-259146/Villar-allies-slam-Aquino-over-Hacienda-Luisita

MANILA, Philippines—Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, the Liberal Party standard-bearer, came under fire Tuesday after his cousin was quoted in The New York Times article published March 14 as saying that the Cojuangco family would not give up Hacienda Luisita.

The distribution of all agricultural lands to farmers—over 1 million hectares in the most productive areas of the country that had not been distributed under the agrarian reform program in the past two decades—is mandated under a new law extending the program for five years and appropriating P150 billion for its implementation.
Hypocrisy, double-speak
Gilbert Remulla, spokesperson of Nacionalista Party presidential candidate Manny Villar, accused Aquino of “political double-speak” over the hacienda issue.
“Senator Aquino says in his latest political ads that he will continue the fight. I think he owes it to the Filipino people to first settle his family’s fight with the farmers and tenants of Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac,” said Remulla, also an NP senatorial candidate.
“It is hypocrisy and double-speak, plain and simple,” Remulla said.
“He can no longer evade the issue as he did all these months. For a presidential candidate who is supposedly running on a platform of change, the appalling conditions that pervade in his family’s hacienda and the continuing plight of the farmers and tenants there should be explained and not swept under the rug,” Remulla said.

Noynoy a hopeless case — Hacienda workers

from The Daily Tribune 01/13/2010
http://www.tribune.net.ph/20100113/headlines/20100113hed2.html 


Liberal Party (LP) standard bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino is a hopeless case as far as striking workers of Hacienda Luisita workers are concerned,” leaders of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), the Unyon ng Mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) and Anakpawis party list yesterday said.

In a joint press statement, KMP secretary general Danilo Ramos, UMA spokesman Lito Bais and Anakpawis secretary general Cherry Clemente said the refusal of Aquino to recognize the rights of striking farmworkers and his rejection of the legitimate, lawful and morally upright demand for immediate and unconditional free distribution of the 6,453-hectare sugar estate to more than 8,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries betrayed the collective interest of the Filipino farmers all over the country.

“Noynoy will not give up their immoral claim and blood tainted control of Hacienda Luisita,” the militant leaders said.

The militant groups said the agenda calling for free distribution of Hacienda Luisita to farmworkers and other agrarian reform beneficiaries will be posed to other presidential candidates in the May 2010 elections.

“The issues concerning Hacienda Luisita like the revocation of Stock Distribution Option, the immediate and free distribution of the 6,453-hectare sugar estate to land reform beneficiaries and the quest for justice for victims of the massacre on Nov.16, 2004 will be included in the peasant electoral agenda for 2010,” the groups said.

They said the family of Aquino failed to address and improve the lives of Luisita workers over the last three to four decades. According to them, daily take home pay of every farm worker in Hacienda Luisita is P9.50, which is not even enough to buy a half kilo of NFA rice.

Bais, the UMA spokesperson and acting president of the hacienda based United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU) announced that Hacienda Luisita will serve as a launching pad of Lakbayan ng Anakpawis Para sa Lupa at Katarungan which will officially start on January 16 in Northern Philippines.

Meanwhile, the nationwide farmers’ caravan dubbed “Lakbayan ng Anakpawis para sa Lupa at Katarungan” simultaneously kicked-off in Davao City and Cagayan De Oro City Tuesday with farmer delegates from Mindanao determined to reach Malacanang Palace to demand genuine land reform and justice on Jan. 22. the 23rd anniversary of Mendiola Massacre.

In a statement in Manila, Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano said farmer-delegates of the nationwide Lakbayan “will roll, sail, and march for 10 days to underscore the worsening landlessness, massacre of the peasantry, and plunder of agricultural funds under the Arroyo administration.”

More criticisms leveled against the LP standard bearer came from the Nacionalista Party, arising from the statements made by Aquino during the debate at Alabang held recently.

The NP said Aquino flooded the airwaves with his all-star MTV and Christmas greeting commercials last month thus belying his camp’s gripe that NP presidential candidate Manny Villar’s popularity rating soared in late December because the Social Weather Stations poll was timed with the airing of the latter’s TV advertisements .

“For the record, it was the Aquino camp that aired its Christmas ad first. We only followed suit. You can even say that we got that idea from their playbook,” Adel Tamano, Nacionalista Party senatorial candidate, said in a statement.

Tamano admitted that the Villar camp was prompted to place TV and radio to level the playing field, “which was skewed in favor of Aquino.”

The NP camp also cautioned the camp of Aquino from speculating the latter’s victory in the May elections.

“Don’t speak too soon about an Aquino win. The race for the presidency is still a long way,” Tamano said.

Aquino fared poorly in the debate, giving out non-sequiturs and even refusing to reply to an issue raised by Sen. Richard Gordon who brought up in the matter of his track record and experience, reportedly Aquino said he does not have to respond to poll cellar dwellers, referrring to Gordon.