Introduction Hacienda Luisita

Introduction Hacienda Luisita was once part of the chooseings of Compania General de Tabacos de Filipinas, Sociedad Anonima, better cognize as Tabacalera, which was founded on November 26, 1881 by a Spaniard from Santander, Cantabria and Santiago de Cuba, break Antonio Lopez y Lopez. He was the initiatory Marques de Comillas and was famous for being an associate of the first Spanish top Minister with foreign blood, the Spanish-Filipino mestizo Don Marcelo Azcarraga y Palmero.His sexual intercourse on his Spanish side, Ricardo Padilla, married Gloria Zobel y Montojo (younger half sister of Mercedes Zobel de Ayala de McMicking, largest Zobel featureer in the Ayala group of companies) and was an aide-de-camp of Juan de Borbon, Count of Barcelona, father of the current female monarch of Spain, His Majesty DonJuan Carlos de todos los Santos de Borbon y Borbon-Dos Sicilias. The estate was named after Antonios married woman, Luisa Bru y Lassus.Their parole, Claudio Lopez, the seco nd to hold the title , donated some of the profits to the Jesuits to create the Pontifical University of Comillas, a university past(p) Madrid. Lopez acquired the estate in 1882, a year before his death. Lopez was a financial character who parlayed his work adventures in Cuba and Latin America into a steamship, companies and commerce byplay organizati unitarys. He was the most influential Spanish businessman of his generation and counted the Prime Minister and the King of Spain as his personal friends.Tabacalera was a private initiative he founded with the sole intention of taking over the Filipino tobacco Monopoly from the Spanish colonial organization. This included the Hacienda Antonio (named after his eldest son), Hacienda San Fernando and Hacienda Isabel (named after his eldest daughter) in Cagayan and Isabela provinces where the legendary La Flor de Isabela cigar was cultivated. Tabacaleras incorporators were the Sociedad General de Credito Inmobiliario Espanol, Banq ue de Paris which is presently Paribas and Bank of the Nether vote outs which is now ABN-AMRO.The scribble and tobacco in the Philippines were the reason wherefore the Lopez de Comillas family were capable to donate such a huge pontifical university to the Jesuits on top of lavishing on their home, the Palacio de Sobrellano in Comillas and the Guell park (designed by Gaudi) in Barcelona. Don Alfonso Guell y Martos born in 1958, the fourth Marquis of Comillas, currently holds the title. He is similarly the Count of San Pedro de Ruisenada, the third to hold that title. Both are grandee shape in Spain and as such can address the King as mi primo or my cousin.Contrary to what was expected, Spanish- have Hacienda Luisita did not languish when the Americans took ample control of the Philippine government activity. In fact, Tabacalera as a whole experient prosperous times because of the legendary sweet tooth of the Americans. With Cuban sugar not enough for their domestic market, t he Americans tapped the Philippines for its sugarcane cravements. At one point during pre-war manila times, Hacienda Luisita supplied or so 20% of altogether sugar in the unite States.Luisita sugar became popular among Filipino (specifically Ilocano) expatriates in America unspoiled as a in effect(p) deal as Victorias sugar was popular among capital of the Philippiness elite circles stomach home. The Americans as well as brought the centrifugal-based machinery which doubled the output of the estate and therefore did not require the cane to be loaded by truck to Laguna to be squeezed in the haciendas there, including those of the Roxas y Zobel families. As this new engineering science swept in Luzon and the sugar mills consolidated, m either wealthy families fell into foreclosure or have their resources.Some of the brave few like Honorio Ventura (who paid for Diosdado Macapagals schooling), the De Leons, Urquicos, Lazatins and the Gonzalezes did just that which is how PASUDECO came into being. Structurally, there was little change in the hacienda Tabacalera y Compania positionedSpanish-Filipino and American-Filipino encargados and administradores to manage the capacious estate. Like all haciendas and tabacaleras in the Philippines, the Hacienda Luisita continued to operate during the Nipponese occupation.The Japanese were bent on ensuring that commodities such as sugar and rice be made available to the majority of the Filipinos, therefore avoiding both tempers of additional insurgencies and guerrilla movements. The Spanish-Filipino administrators simply placed their subordinates, Japanese journeymen (who, like many impoverished Chinese immigrants from Fujian fled south to the Philippines for a better life) and Korean stevedores working as machinists in the centrifugal system, to the helm.This kept both the Japanese and the Spanish in darling terms as both their interests were protected. As a matter of fact, charge before World War II, the T abacalera had in their payroll a good number of Japanese migrant workers doing odd jobs around Hacienda Luisita. (Before 1942, the Philippines was a first class colony in Asia trance Hong Kong and Singapore were poor cities capital of Japan and Japan as a whole was relatively closed from the outdoors world thuslyce).When the Japanese Imperial Army marched into the country, these lowly migrant workers became semiprecious translators and managers. In conjunction with re-taking the Philippines from the Japanese, on January 25, 1945 General Douglas MacArthur moved his advanced home plate forward to Hacienda Luisita. In the 1950s, the onset of the Hukbalahap rebellion led the Spanish owners of Tabacalera to contend Hacienda Luisita and the sugar mill Central Azucarera de Tarlac.Ramon Magsaysay, so president of the Philippines, blocked the sales bargain of the plantation to the eager and wealthy Lopezes of Iloilo. During those times the brothers Fernando Lopez and Eugenio Lopez a s well as their cousins were one of the wealthiest in all of the Visayas Islands, save for a few Chinese Filipino families in Cebu and Leyte, as well as the Familias Aliadas de Villegas, Teves, Lopez, y Rodriguez (a family with origins from Santander, Galicia, & Asturias as well as China Teves).Fearing the Lopezes might become too properly after already owning Meralco, Negros Navigation, Manila Chronicle, ABS-CBN, various haciendas in Western Visayas and then the nearby PASUMIL consortium in del Carmen, Pampanga that they purchased from the Americans, the president offered the property to Jose Cojuangco, nicknamed Pepe through Magsaysay protege and Cojuangcos son-in-law, Benigno Aquino. Magsaysay also knew the Cojuangcos through his wife, Luz, of the prosperous Banzons, an old Chinese Filipino family. Unfortunately, chair Ramon Magsaysay died in Mount Manunggal, Cebu in 1957.The sale was consummated in President Carlos P. Garcias term, a close ally of then Senator Ferdinand Marc os and quintuplet years from the twenty-four hours President Magsaysay offered the land. The Jose Cojuangcos were wealthy in land and blaspheme holdings and in Philippine pesos. They were not wealthy in United States dollars which was closely regulated then by the Philippine Central Bank. In fact, Pepe and his wife Metring were not able to send Pepes younger brother Eduardo Sr. (Danding Cojuangcos father) to the United States for treatment for the mere fact that they could not exchange their pesos to dollars.Eduardo Sr or Endeng Lalake later died of kidney failure. The Jose Cojuangcos acquired the property in 1958 through a loan from the regime Service Insurance System and a dollar loan from the Manufacturers cuss Company of New York, which was guaranteed by the Central Bank of the Philippines, with consent from Miguel Cuaderno, its governor. Pepe also reduced his stake in the Paniqui shekels Mills, though he and his cousins unchanging managed it on behalf of his aunt, Ysidra Cojuangco, the matriarch. Hacienda Luisita was the largest investment he ever made.With the ink barely dry, he appointed not his eldest son Pedro but his son-in-law Benigno Aquino Jr as administrator. Pepe and Ninoy introduced an almost social welfare state forfeit medicines and check up, scholarships to colleges, free education, free food and equitable shares to the harvest, free child care and nutrition, free burials, a village with housing earmarked for the give riseers, even free gasoline to the tractoras. Like the Paniqui Sugar Mills, not a single workers strike was instigated during their administration.Pepe barely made any money from the Hacienda Luisita. Understanding that the value of the Luisita is in the farmers who till it, he chose to rehabilitate the Filipinos who before were almost slaves low the Tabacalera. He was able to sustain these losses due in part of his other to a greater extent money devising investments in the Bank of Commerce and First Manila Managem ent which owned the Pantranco buses and the Mantrade group. As Ferdinand Marcos was elected for a second term in 1969, the volte-face happened to Pepe.At Bank of Commerce, where he and his brother Juan Itoy Cojuangco and nephews Ramon Cojuangco(later of PLDT son of relative Antonio Cojuangco Sr) and Danding Cojuangco (eldest son of deceased brother Eduardo Cojuangco Sr) each owned equitable stakes, the last troika factions planned a coup d etat by toppling him from the presidency of the verbalise bank. The three did not want Pedro (Pepes first born) to be bank president which was against the aging Pepes wishes. To avoid a scandal, Pepe Cojuangco sell his stay shares in Bank of Commerce, almost equal to 28%, to his relatives.Thus Pepe woolly his one of eventually three line of lifes in nurturing the Hacienda Luisita. As the 1970s crept in and immediately after Benigno Aquino Jr imprisonment on false charges, Pepes business empire began to wane. He was unable to purchase new mac hines and new technology for the aging sugar mill that stands in the middle of the estate because of the governments refusal to Pantrancos appeals for gameyer charges as compared to its competitors who have since been permitted so.Business critics believed it was Marcoss way of pressuring Pepe to influence his son-in-law from attacking him and his wife, First Lady Imelda Marcos(who recently create the Cultural Center of the Philippines and whom Ninoy labeled as the new Evita Peron). His close business associate in First Manila Management of the Pantranco / Nissan Philippines / Mantrade fame, Manuel Lopa, died in 1974.With his death, the FMMC-Mantrade companies wooly-minded their immunity from the Marcoses (Manuel was a close personal friend of Speaker Daniel Romualdez, Imeldas uncle). embassador Benjamin Romualdez, brother of Imelda, then coerced Pepe and his son-in-law, Ricardo Baby Lopa (Manuels son) into selling the prayer of 38 companies under First Manila Management to him . Baby and his wife Teresita Cojuangco, together with Pepe and the rest of the Lopa heirs, had no choice but to sell. The second lifeline disappeared with this extortion.In 1976, First United Bank, the banking concern Pepe built on his own after his ouster from the family owned Bank of Commerce which he protected from bankruptcy decades ago, was sold for an amicable amount to his nephew, Danding Cojuangco, who was then close to President Marcos, with both mothers being Ilocanas notwithstanding. The poorest branch of the Cojuangcos, the Eduardo branch, has become the richest through the sheer genius of Danding. Though this third lifeline disappeared in good terms, the Jose Cojuangcos were left with vigor but a half-rehabilitated and barely earningwhite elephant of a hacienda.Practically all of his farm workers mourned his death. Many flooded his funeral Mass to see him off. Pepe Cojuangco died on August 21, 1976, five years from the day of the Plaza Miranda bombing. His wife, Demetr ia Sumulong-Cojuangco, died due to colon cancer (the identical disease that killed daughter Cory Aquino). Both died disappointed and broken-hearted. Their children and grandchildren zealously took key positions in the holding company to save the hacienda from the creditors, all of whom wanted to slice Luisita away save for Chinabank of Binondo, who defied the anger of President and Mrs.Marcos by continuing to help them. Chinabank was part owned by the Dee, Sycip and Lim families. With Ninoy and his wife Cory Aquino in exile in Boston, the be children took drastic steps in ensuring that the hacienda continued to exist and operate. To maximize the productivity of sugar and therefore profitability, a certain level of economy mustiness be reached. Thus the Jose Cojuangcos tried their best to keep the Luisita in one piece. They refurbished and re-used old 1950s era farm machines and tools, doubled capacity production maintained low expenses.There were a lot of reasons why Luisita re mained in Cojuangco hands. One, it helped that Danding Cojuangco was the de facto kingpin of Tarlac and his kind mother Josephine Murphy Cojuangco was still cordial to them. For Marcos to intimation Hacienda Luisita he also would have to force Agrarian Reform into the Ysidra Cojuangco haciendas which were under the supervision of Danding Cojuangco. Thus, many haciendas around Luisita were hacked to smaller pieces such as those of the De Leonsdisambiguation required ,Escalers, Urquicos, Arrastrias, Quiasons and Gonzalezesdisambiguation needed but not those of the Cojuangco.Two, it helped that the price of sugar spiraled so high because of President Marcos and Roberto Benedicto manipulating the sugar prices primarily in Negros Occidental. Third, Ninoy Aquino was not in the Philippines lambasting President Marcos in the underground movements. For as long as the Marcoses heard little of Pepes son-in-law, the less government pressure there was on the Jose Cojuangcos. near importantl y, it helped that most of the farm workers who remember Pepe understood the frugality measures his children had to implement.On Pepes death anniversary and that of the bombing of Plaza Miranda, Ninoy Aquino was gunned down in wide-cut daylight, August 21, 1983. Upon the installation of his wife, Cory, Pepes daughter, the property was folded into the Hacienda Luisita Incorporated established on August 23, 1988. 1 In compliance with the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform chopine which at this time around did not exempt anyone whether or not they were close to President Marcos before, nearly 5,000 hectares of Hacienda Luisita were placed under astock distribution agreement between the landowners and farm workers.President Aquino wanted to make sure that all farmers rights are recognized. If the farmers agreed for a stock distribution agreement then the plantations would also remain intact. Many haciendas, including those assembled by Ysidra Cojuangco a century before, did not qualify or t he farm hands there refused the offer. Thus, the majority of all Cojuangco lands disappeared while a Cojuangco was President of the Philippines. This caused a silent rift at bottom the Cojuangco clan.All the lands where sugarcane and molasses were derived to feed the Paniqui Sugar Mills were hocked to appease the government program and those of the angry farm workers. Hacienda Luisita was saved by the perseverance of Corys siblings and the fact that most of the farm workers signed the agreement, counting that one day the life in Hacienda Luisita would be just as good as the time when Pepe and Ninoy used to managed it. However, development and new technology did not pull in in Cory Aquinos term. She barred any relative from starting any new businesses.Furthermore, she forbade many among her siblings and cousins from retaking the family businesses lost in the 1970s unless it was sold back to them (as with the case between Romualdez selling back First Manila Management to the Lopa cl an) or was awarded to them by the PCGG or presidential Commission on Good Government. The old sugar mill in the middle of Luisita remained lame and with holes in its roofs. After 1992, Cory Aquino stepped down from the Philippine presidency. That was also the time that elder brother Pedro Pete and sons Melecio Mel and Fernando Nando entered the hacienda hoping to make it profitable.Mindful of the farm workers, they instituted very slowly the monetary reforms to achieve this goal. This partly explains why every year from 1988 until 2008 the Hacienda Luisita and itsCentral Azucarera de Tarlac posted hundreds of millions of losses. and in 2009, buoyed by the huge demand for sugar and the unpredicted displace prices of Brazilian sugar, did the family corporation post a profit. The various siblings stopped change money from their own non-hacienda corporations for the benefit of Pepes hacienda, which was a huge suspire of relief for them.On the other hand, the management style of t he Pedro Cojuangcos lacked the charisma of the deceased Ninoy. His United States educated children, Mel and Nando, continue to strive to placate the needs of the farmers while balancing the budget. Sadly, when profit arrived so did the workers strikes. The unrest was deuced on the ally of current President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who were shocked to see Cory Aquino joining anti-Arroyo rallies. Some blamed Danding Cojuangco since owning the hacienda would complement San Miguel and Ginebras ethyl, molasses and sugar needs. This was refuted by Danding himself and his cousins believe in him.In 2005, the Department of Agrarian Reform canceled the stock distribution agreement, citing that it had failed to improve the lives of more than 5 000 farmer beneficiaries. Hacienda Luisita Incorporated appealed this decision, but in May 2006, the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council rejected with finality the motion of Hacienda Luisita Incorporated to reckon the revocation of the stock distributi on agreement. However, the Supreme Court issued a temp restraining order, stopping the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council from parceling out the land to the workers.