The Revolutionary Martyrs from Hacienda Luisita

Jose Agtalon
Spokesperson
Josepino Corpuz Commmand
Central Luzon
January 31, 2005

In the midst of intense struggle of the people of Hacienda Luisita, and of peasants throughout the country, against landlord oppression and state terrorism, Allan "Ka Almer" Batan, a former farm worker from Barangay Bantug, Tarlac City in Hacienda Luisita, became one of the martyrs in a battle with government troops last January 26, in Sitio Malasique, Brgy. Bantog, Victoria, Tarlac.

Another farm worker from Barangay Balete, also in Hacienda Luisita, Juanito "Ka Dedeng" Flores, was critically wounded, and is now confined and heavily-guarded at V. Luna Hospital at Camp Aguinaldo.

The two former farm workers from the Cojuangco-owned hacienda joined the New People's Army because of their first-hand experiences with the extreme oppression and exploitation characterized by the current semi-feudal and semi-colonial economic and political system..

The long history of the struggle of farmers and farm workers for land and just wages made it clear for Ka Almer and Ka Dedeng that while it is correct and worthwhile to fight for their rights within the legal system as what is happening with the current strike, the only solution to the problem of land monopoly is agrarian revolution.

The two comrades understood that agrarian revolution can only be realized by building organs of political power and launching armed struggle troughout the country.

More are expected to join the New People's Army as repression and exploitation intensifies. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the Cojuangco family may potentially be the NPA's biggest recruiter next to the dictator Marcos.

The revolutionary people love and cherish the New People's Army as their own army and takes pride when someone from among their ranks decides to join the NPA.

We condemn the groundless accusations of the Nothern Luzon Command that the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army "orchestrated" the strike in Hacienda Luisita "to sow terror" among the people.

The opposite is true. We have repeatedly declared that it is against the policy of the NPA to be involved, in any form whatsoever, in legal activities or protests of the people. Members of the NPA are engaged in armed struggle against elements of the reactionary and the ruling class. As such, they are prohibited from taking part in any protest actions in the legal democratic movement.

Ka Dedeng must be accorded just and humane treatment as provided for in international agreements and the Comprehesive Agreement on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.

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