ANAKPAWIS Representative Rafael Mariano said military men on board two trucks entered Hacienda Luisita Tuesday evening as of his last information.

Plantation workers will be commemorating the fifth anniversary of the Hacienda Luisita massacre on November 16 that killed 12 picketers and two kids when almost 1000 soldiers and policemen attacked them at the Hacienda Luisita sugar mill and plantation in Tarlac.

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In time for the upcoming anniversary of the incident, Mariano challenged Presidentiable Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III to announce the social justice content in his platforms.

Mariano said Aquino should scrap the two ultimatums given to the farm workers in sugar plantation Hacienda Luisita - one that tells them that they can only plant in their parcels of land until October 30, and another one that tells them they should register their lands on or before November 15.

"I don't want to tell him what he should do. But I believe should scrap the ultimatum released by the management that the farmers should register," he said Wednesday in a forum in Quezon City. "If they register, does this mean that the land will already be physically given to them?"

The militant lawmaker also asked Aquino if the Cojuangco family can retreat the three-year Temporary Restraining Order in the Supreme Court against the farmers.

The controversy on the 77 hectares of Hacienta Luisita land that was sold to the government for the construction of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac expressway did not have the permission of the farmers, according to Mariano.

He also said that out of the P2 billion paid for the 77 hectares, only P37.5 million was given to the farmers, which is far from the agreed 33.2 percent share. "This showed that the Cojuangcos do not acknowledge the concept of co-ownership."

He stressed that whether Senator Aquino runs for President or not, the farmers' struggle in Hacienda Luisita owned by the Cojuangco family will remain.

In response to Aquino's earlier statement that the Hacienda Luisita land distribution issue is being "politicized," Mariano said the issue has been there long before Aquino announced his plans to run for president.

"We don't want to conclude whether it will have a direct relation (on his campaign) but if we talk about the sentiments of the farm workers in Hacienda Luisista, maybe we have seen in previous elections that this issue did not just emerge the other day. The history is very deep, the issue of social justice has long been there," Mariano said.

Mariano likened the farmers' struggle as a social volcano that erupts every time something challenges their rights, such as the aforementioned ultimatum.

He said the farmers have been calling for the distribution of 6,000 hectares of land.

An estimate of 2000 hectares are now being planted with rice, vegetable and others and directly sold and harvested due to the initiative of the plantation workers.

Nueva Ecija Representative Edno Joson said a "Congress massacre" regarding the land reform bill that was passed during Noynoy's mother Cory Aquino's term as a president also transpired in Congress in 1988.

"Before the Executive Order 228, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program was passed, during Cory's time, it was made sure that the Hacienda Luisita lands will not be subjected to physical distribution," he said.

Because of this, the law, according to the Joson, has withheld farmers' rights.

He added that the stock distribution option, which allows landowners to distribute lands through shares in the company, was not originally included in the program and the only option was physical distribution.

"If this did not happen, landowners from other provinces cannot say that 'Why would I physically distribute my land when the President herself distributes land through stocks," he said.

Joson said one should not depend on his parents alone. "Show that you are a man. Show that you know how to lead and you're not just depending on your parent's name. There should be accomplishments because words should not be the only basis but deeds. It shouldn't be the name alone." (Angela Casauay/Sunnex)