NEWS RELEASE
January 10, 2005, Thursday
For Immediate Release
 Reference:   ULWU-CATLU Media Bureau
                        azucarrera@yahoo.com
RICARDO RAMOS,
President, Central Azucarera De Tarlac Labor Union [CATLU]     
                   Contact #:  0921-796-1921
 
Congressman Noynoy Aquino linked to January 5 shooting in Hacienda Luisita

Hacienda Luisita, Tarlac City –A victim of the January 5 shooting of striking workers in Hacienda Luisita has linked Cojuangco scion and Tarlac representative Benigno Aquino III to the incident.

Jeorge Loveland, 32, one of two [2] victims and a resident of Barangay Balete, Tarlac City said his assailants were with Congressman Aquino and alighted from his vehicle on the night of January 2 during Aquino’s visit to the exact spot of the shooting incident.

Four men armed with .45 caliber and baby armalite, on board a Nissan patrol from the Las Haciendas west gate, barged into the strikers’ barricade and shot two strikers after a heated argument.

“There was little tension on the night of January 2 and we were among those who approached Congressman Aquino’s vehicle as he arrived at the west gate. I remember clearly that those who were with the congressman on that night are the same people who barged into our picket line and shot us,” Loveland told welcomers at the picket line as he arrived from his discharge from the hospital on [what day].

Loveland, who has been guarding the barricade since it was mounted, said he frequently sees the car escort Aquino’s car.

Loveland recalled the Aquino’s last words as “Mag-ingat na lang kayo,” which could have been an indication of what was to come.

On the night of the incident Loveland argued that the gunmen who claimed to be homeowners were not really residents of Las Haciendas as the car’s plate number was not on their record. One of the gunmen, who according to Loveland recognized him in the dialogue with Aquino, blurted “Isa ka pa” before shooting him at gunpoint.

“He [assailant] failed to shoot me as I struggled to disarm him for a few minutes. I escaped after a bullet landed on my chest and the assailant chased me,” Loveland said.

He added that his assailant ran back to the barricade spot and shot striker Ernesto Ramos, now confined in the hospital in critical condition.

Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union President Ricardo Ramos said “the incident is a manifestation of the Cojuanco-Aquinos’ attempt to cease and break up the strike instead of negotiating with us.”

“This incident, clearly instigated by the Cojuanco-Aquino clan, would only situate the hacienda in a state of alarm which would justify more military and police presence that would bring about more harassment cases against the strikers,” Ramos said.

Meanwhile, Loveland believed there had been collaboration between the PNP and the assailants as an unusual shifting of police forces occurred a few minutes before the incident.

He also noticed that the police did not meddle and failed to disarm the assailants. One of the assailants even shouted at the police saying, “Huwag kayong makialam dito,” Loveland recalled.

 “The police are afraid of the Aquino’s goons,” he said. He added that the police forces who have been assigned at the Las Haciendas West gate have now been replaced. ###