Looking back

CHEERS TO online news sites Bulatlat.com and InterAksyon.com for dedicating a page containing reports and analyses on the Hacienda Luisita issue.

Bulatlat provided context through links to their previous reports explaining the land distribution issue and the schemes the Cojuangco family used to allegedly deceive the beneficiaries. Bulatlat also posted a collection of video documentaries, some produced by Tudla Productions, ranging from the bloody encounter on Nov. 16, 2004 and the connection between the Hacienda Luisita and the Cojuangco-Aquino family.

According to a Bulatlat report, Hacienda Luisita was purchased in 1957 through the government loan granted to the Cojuangco family with the condition to later distribute the land to its tenants. But the land has yet to be distributed among farmworker-beneficiaries.

InterAksyon, meanwhile, also provided an infographic showing how huge Hacienda Luisita is by comparing its land area to Philippine landmarks. The infographic showed how small a parcel of landeach claimant will be receiving under the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, one of the largest sugar plantations and milling corporations in Northern Luzon, is owned by the Cojuangco family.

The efforts of these online news sites provided context and continuous coverage of the issue as the Supreme Court recently modified its July 2011 decision ordering the distribution of the 4,915 Hacienda Luisita land to 6,296 farm worker-beneficiaries under CARP.