By Christine F. Herrera
Manila Standard Today
The youth group Anakbayan on Friday adopted the word “Amalayer” or “I’m a liar” to describe President Benigno Aquino III’s supposed inaction on the Hacienda Luisita Massacre eight years ago in which seven farmers were killed.
Anakbayan and other groups commemorated the 8th anniversary of the massacre in Tarlac and demanded that President Aquino bring the culprits to justice even if it means running after the members of his family.
“A crime claimed the lives of seven farmers, yet it’s as if there were no criminals and the crime did not take place in the land supposedly owned by the President’s family but rightfully belongs to the farmers,” Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary general Renato Reyes said.
Farmers at the hacienda demonstrated peacefully in at least eight villages within the vicinity of the sprawling sugar estate to dramatize their demand for justice and the quick distribution of the hacienda to farmers.
Felix Nacpil Jr., chairman of the Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita, said eight years had passed since the massacre took place, but justice remained elusive.
“It has been eight years, but we still have to get justice for the massacre victims,” Nacpil said by phone.
The President, then a congressman, was at the scene of the crime when the massacre took place on Nov. 16, 2004. His bodyguards were accused of pulling the trigger but Mr. Aquino defended them saying they did not fire a single shot.
“Amalayer, Amakiller is who he is,” Anakbayan chairman Vencer Crisostomo said.
“We can never forget the sight of Noynoy eight years ago going on live TV trying to justify the massacre of seven unarmed farmers,” Crisostomo said.
“Thus we are no longer surprised that two years into his rule and almost a decade since the Massacre, not a single person has been charged or arrested for the killings.”
The seven farmers were killed when soldiers opened fire on the striking farm workers.
Six other supporters of the strike, including church and local government leaders, were assassinated by suspected soldiers in the succeeding months, Crisostomo said.
Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano joined thousands of farmers in the hacienda in Tarlac to honor the seven farmers.
“We call President Noynoy Aquino an ‘Amalayer’ and ‘Amakiller’ for the lack of land and justice for the farm workers of the 6,000-hectare estate owned by presidential relatives,” Crisostomo said.
“After promising to give Luisita to the farmers in the 2010 elections, Aquino has shown himself to be nothing but the worst kind of ‘layer’ [liar] who puts the interests of his relatives and fellow members of the elite above the welfare of the ordinary Filipino.”
“On the eighth anniversary of the Hacienda Luisita Massacre, not one perpetrator has been brought to justice. Not one has been charged in court,” Reyes said.
Mariano, along with thousands of farmers and farm workers of Hacienda Luisita, held ceremonies to remember the killings that took place in front of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac sugar mill owned by the Cojuangco-Aquinos.
“We remember and demand justice for Luisita martyrs Juancho Sanchez, Jhayvie Basilio, Jesus Laza, Jhune David, Jaime Fastidio, Jessie Valdez and Adrian Caballero,” Mariano said.
“They lived and died for the farmers’ struggle for genuine land reform in Luisita and in the country.” With Jess Malabanan
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