The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) together with the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Luisita (AMBALA) strongly condemns the ongoing betrayal of farmers in Hacienda Luisita, as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s recent distribution of 219 hectares of farmland is nothing more than a symbolic gesture that fails to address the core issues of landlessness and land-use conversion. While DAR and Malacañang attempts to frame the recent COCROM distribution as progress under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and the New Agrarian Emancipation Act (NAEA), corporate interests are already eroding the small gains of farmers and ARBs through massive land conversions that displace farmers and destroy livelihoods.

At the heart of this sham is the Aboitiz Infracapital, Inc. (AIC) plans to convert some 500 hectares of Hacienda Luisita into a special economic zone. Branded as a “green energy” initiative, this project is blatant land grabbing that disregards the farmers’ rightful claim to the land. According to KMP, the conversion that threatens the displacement of long-time residents and agricultural workers, was pushed through without any significant consultation with ARBs. KMP denounces this as another form of state-backed land grabbing, prioritizing profit over the welfare of the farmers.

KMP said the history of Hacienda Luisita is branded with deception and violence, and Tarlac Development Corporation (TADECO)—controlled by the powerful Cojuangco family—continues to perpetuate these injustices. Despite the 2012 Supreme Court ruling to distribute over 4,900 hectares of land to farmers, TADECO has consistently maneuvered to exempt prime agricultural lands from distribution, particularly in Barangays Balete and Cutcut. The company has built guard towers, deployed armed personnel, and issued eviction notices, all to force farmers out of the land that rightfully belongs to them. This ongoing defiance of any actual land distribution exposes the Cojuangco family’s iron grip over Hacienda Luisita and their determination to retain control at any cost.

Adding insult to injury, Ayala Land, Inc., in collaboration with the Cojuangco and Lorenzo families, has initiated the demolition of homes in Sitio Obrero in Barangay Central. On August 12, 2024, demolition teams destroyed eight homes without proper notice, displacing hundreds of families to make way for the Crescendo project, a commercial and residential development. This brutal act of dispossession, which occurred without due process, further exposes the collusion between landlords and corporations in undermining agrarian reform and displacing the urban poor.

“President Marcos Jr.’s land distribution and debt condonation for over 300 farmers in Hacienda Luisita is a distraction from the larger issue of rampant land use conversion in the disputed land holding. The real issue is that land “promised” to farmers under CARP is being converted into industrial estates and commercial zones, benefitting the same oligarchs who have historically oppressed the peasantry in Hacienda Luisita. Marcos Jr’s so-called land reform is rendered meaningless as long as farmers are continually driven from their land by corporate projects and forced evictions.

KMP demands genuine agrarian reform, which must include an end to land-use conversions, land grabbing, and corporate control over agricultural lands. The struggle in Hacienda Luisita is emblematic of the broader fight for land justice across the country, where large landholdings remain in the hands of a few powerful families, and neoliberal policies continue to drive farmers into poverty and displacement.

According to KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos, also a Makabayan Senatorial candidate: “this fight for genuine agrarian reform is far from over. ARBs and farmers in Hacienda Luisita and throughout the country will continue to resist all attempts to displace farmers in favor of corporate profit. The government’s piecemeal and bogus land distribution efforts ring hollow as long as land-use conversions continue to undermine the very essence of agrarian reform.”#