Less than a month before the fifth anniversary of the Hacienda Luisita massacre, half a month before the deadline imposed by Hacienda Luisita Incorporated on the farmers to vacate the hacienda lands, and even as the country braces itself for another typhoon, we ask presidentiabe Noynoy Aquino and his family: What happened to your promise?

After five years, justice has not been served on the victims of the November 16, 2004 massacre of striking farmers and farm workers in the hacienda – even as evidence clearly points to the culpability of the Cojuangco family, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, former Labor Sec. Patricia Sto. Tomas, and Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself.

After a bitter land dispute, farmers got to own 2,000 hectares out of the 6,000-hectare hacienda. Hacienda Luisita Incorporated, however, released a memorandum last December 2008 ordering farmers to vacant the parcel of land they are farming by October 30, 2009. A typhoon is therefore a-brewing in the hacienda at present.

We were actually bothered by Sen. Noynoy’s statement, made after he announced his presidential bid, that he and his siblings will sell their share of the hacienda. He didn’t make it clear to whom they intend to sell their share. More importantly, it is clear that he viewed the act as a business move, not as a compassionate gesture for social justice.

Sen. Noynoy has so far used slogans such as “change” and “sacrifice for the country” for his campaign. The Hacienda Luisita issue puts these to the test. Can he really stand up to his family and class interests, to the Arroyo regime, and even to people who are working closely with him in his campaign, in favor of farmers and farmworkers?

We are bothered by the fact that Sen. Noynoy’s campaign manager is former Cong. Florencio “Butch” Abad, who used to be the chief implementor of the government’s fake agrarian reform program, and that Akbayan Rep. Risa Baraquel, an advocate of a “reformed” version of the said program, is running for senator in Sen. Noynoy’s slate.

We reiterate our call to Sen. Noynoy: Intervene in the Hacienda Luisita land dispute in favor of the farmers and farmworkers – now. Stop the eviction of farmers and farmworkers. Distribute Hacienda Luisita lands to the tillers. Seek justice for those who were massacred in the 2004 strike of farmers and farmworkers in the hacienda.

This is a change, an act of sacrifice for the country, that the people want to see now. #