Hacienda Luisita
Encyclopedia
Hacienda Luisita is a 6,435-hectare
plantation
estate located in Tarlac
, Philippines
, owned by the Cojuangco
family, which includes former Philippine President Cory Aquino and her son, President Noynoy Aquino. It spans various towns in the province. The hacienda
is primarily within the 2nd District and 1st District of Tarlac.
The estate is as large as the cities of Makati
and Pasig
combined.
, which was founded on November 26, 1881 by a Spaniard from Santander, Cantabria
and Santiago de Cuba
, Don Antonio López y López. He was the first Marques de Comillas
and was famous for being an associate of the first Spanish Prime Minister with foreign blood, the Spanish-Filipino mestizo Don Marcelo Azcárraga y Palmero. His relative on his Spanish side, Ricardo Padilla, married Gloria Zóbel y Montojo (younger half sister of Mercedes Zóbel de Ayala de McMicking, largest Zóbel owner in the Ayala group of companies) and was an aide-de-camp of Juan de Borbón, Count of Barcelona, father of the current King of Spain, His Majesty Don Juan Carlos de todos los Santos de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias. The estate was named after Antonio's wife, Luisa Bru y Lassús. Their son, Claudio López, the second to hold the title , donated some of the profits to the Jesuits to create the Pontifical University of Comillas, a university outside Madrid
. López acquired the estate in 1882, a year before his death. López was a financial genius who parlayed his work adventures in Cuba and Latin America into a steamship, companies and trading businesses. 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 enterprise he founded with the sole intention of taking over the Philippine Tobacco Monopoly from the Spanish colonial government. 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. Tabacalera’s incorporators were the Sociedad General de Crédito Inmobiliario Español, Banque de Paris which is now Paribas and Bank of the Netherlands which is now ABN-AMRO. The sugar and tobacco in the Philippines were the reason why the López de Comillas family were able 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 Güell park (designed by Gaudí) in Barcelona
. Don Alfonso Güell y Martos born in 1958, the fourth Marquis of Comillas, currently holds the title. He is also the Count of San Pedro de Ruiseñada, the third to hold that title. Both are grandee
status in Spain and as such can address the King as "mi primo" or "my cousin."
) expatriates in America just as much as Victorias sugar was popular among Manila’s elite circles back home. The Americans also brought the centrifugal-based machinery which doubled the production 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 technology swept in Luzon and the sugar mills consolidated, many wealthy families fell into foreclosure or combined their resources. Some of the brave few like Honorio Ventura (who paid for Diosdado Macapagal
’s schooling), the De Leons, Urquicos, Lazatins and the Gonzálezes did just that--- which is how PASUDECO came into being. Structurally, there was little change in the hacienda; Tabacalera y Compañía positioned Spanish-Filipino and American-Filipino encargados and administradores to manage the vast estate.
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 good terms as both their interests were protected. As a matter of fact, even before World War II, the Tabacalera
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 while Hong Kong
and Singapore
were poor cities; Tokyo
and Japan as a whole was relatively closed from the outside world then). When the Japanese Imperial Army marched into the country, these lowly migrant workers became valuable translators and managers.
rebellion led the Spanish owners of Tabacalera to sell Hacienda Luisita and the sugar mill Central Azucarera de Tarlac. Ramon Magsaysay
, then president of the Philippines, blocked the sale of the plantation to the eager and wealthy Lópezes of Iloilo. During those times the brothers Fernando López
and Eugenio López
as well as their cousins were one of the wealthiest in all of the Visayas Islands, save for a few Chinese Filipino
families in Cebú
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 powerful after already owning Meralco
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, 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
, popularly called “Pepe” through Magsaysay protégé and Don Pepe’s son-in-law, Benigno Aquino
. Magsaysay also knew the Cojuangcos through his wife, Luz, of the prosperous Banzons, an old Chinese Filipino
family. Unfortunately, President Ramón Magsaysay
died in Mount Manunggal, Cebu
in 1957.
The sale was consummated in President Carlos P. García
’s term, a close ally of then Senator Ferdinand Marcos
and five years from the day President Magsaysay offered the land. The José Cojuangcos were wealthy in land and bank 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 Pepe’s younger brother Eduardo Sr. (Danding Cojuangco’s 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 José Cojuangco
s acquired the property in 1958 through a loan from the Government Service Insurance System
and a dollar loan from the Manufacturers Trust 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 Sugar Mills, though he and his cousins still 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 Pedro but his son-in-law Benigno Aquino Jr to administer the hacienda. Pepe and Ninoy introduced an almost social welfare state: free 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 farmers, 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 under the Tabacalera. He was able to sustain these losses due in part of his other more money making investments in the Bank of Commerce
and First Manila Management which owned the Pantranco buses and the Mantrade group.
was elected for a second term in 1969, the reverse 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 three factions planned a coup d’ etat by toppling him from the presidency of the said bank. The three did not want Pedro (Pepe’s first born) to be bank president which was against the aging Pepe’s wishes. To avoid a scandal, Pepe Cojuangco sold his remaining shares in Bank of Commerce, almost equal to 28%, to his relatives. Thus Pepe lost his one of eventually three lifelines in nurturing the Hacienda Luisita.
As the 1970s crept in and immediately after Benigno Aquino Jr imprisonment on false charges, Pepe’s business empire began to wane. He was unable to purchase new machines and new technology for the aging sugar mill that stands in the middle of the estate because of the government’s refusal to Pantranco’s appeals for higher charges as compared to its competitors who have since been permitted so. Business critics believed it was Marcos’s way of pressuring Pepe to influence his son-in-law from attacking him and his wife, First Lady Imelda Marcos
(who recently built 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 lost their immunity from the Marcoses (Manuel was a close personal friend of Speaker Daniel Romualdez, Imelda's uncle). Ambassador Benjamin Romualdez, brother of Imelda, then coerced Pepe and his son-in-law, Ricardo “Baby” Lopa (Manuel’s son) into selling the collection 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 saved 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 nothing but a half-rehabilitated and barely earning white elephant
of a hacienda. Practically all of his farm workers mourned his death. Many flooded his funeral Mass to see him off.
of Binondo, who defied the anger of President and Mrs. Marcos by continuing to help them. Chinabank
was partly owned by the Dee
, Sycip
and Lim families.
With Ninoy and his wife Cory Aquino in exile in Boston
, the remaining 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 must 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 remained 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 touch 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 León
s, Escalers, Urquicos, Arrastrias, Quiasons and Gonzalez
es 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 less of Pepe’s son-in-law, the less government pressure there was on the José Cojuangcos. Most importantly, it helped that most of the farm workers who remember Pepe understood the frugality measures his children had to implement.
Upon the installation of his wife, Cory, Pepe’s daughter, the property was folded into the Hacienda Luisita Incorporated established on August 23, 1988. In compliance with the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program
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 a stock
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 the 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 within 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 Cory’s 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 arrive in Cory Aquino’s 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 clan) or was awarded to them by the PCGG
or Presidential Commission on Good Government
. The old sugar mill in the middle of Luisita remained rickety and with holes in its roofs.
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 reconsider the revocation of the stock distribution agreement. However, the Supreme Court
issued a temporary restraining order, stopping the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council from parceling out the land to the workers.
have painted it as a symbol of the country's paralyzing oligarchy
, with some of the country's most powerful figures all having stakes in the property. The estate's incorporators, who control 70 percent of Hacienda Luisita's stock shares, are Pedro Cojuangco, Josephine C. Reyes, Teresita C. Lopa’s heirs, José Cojuangco, Jr.
, and Maria Paz C. Teopaco, all siblings of the late former President Corazon C. Aquino who, on the day she became President of the Philippines, bequeathed her shares to her children and the Daughters of Charity
and other non-profit organizations for fear that it would be used as political propaganda. The remaining 30 percent of the stock shares was given to farm workers under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program's stock distribution option scheme. The turmoil has reduced the output of property.
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
estate located in Tarlac
Tarlac
Tarlac is a landlocked province of the Philippines located in the Luzon Island. Its capital is Tarlac City. Tarlac borders Pampanga to the south, Nueva Ecija to the east, Pangasinan to the north, and Zambales to the west...
, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, owned by the Cojuangco
Cojuangco
Cojuangco is a Filipino surname of Chinese origin Hsu .People with the surname Cojuangco are listed below in alphabetical order.-B:...
family, which includes former Philippine President Cory Aquino and her son, President Noynoy Aquino. It spans various towns in the province. The hacienda
Hacienda
Hacienda is a Spanish word for an estate. Some haciendas were plantations, mines, or even business factories. Many haciendas combined these productive activities...
is primarily within the 2nd District and 1st District of Tarlac.
The estate is as large as the cities of Makati
Makati City
The City of Makati is one of the 17 cities that make up Metro Manila, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. Makati is the financial center of the Philippines and one of the major financial, commercial and economic hubs in Asia...
and Pasig
Pasig City
The City of Pasig is one of the city municipalities of Metro Manila in the Philippines and was the former capital of the province of Rizal prior to the formation of this grouping of cities designated as the National Capital Region...
combined.
Spanish era
Hacienda Luisita was once part of the holdings of Compañia General de Tabacos de Filipinas, Sociedad Anónima, better known as TabacaleraTabacalera
Tabacalera is a Spanish tobacco monopoly which was established in 1636, making it the oldest tobacco company in the world . In 1999 the company merged with SEITA of France to form Altadis. Its brands included Ducados and Fortuna....
, which was founded on November 26, 1881 by a Spaniard from Santander, Cantabria
Cantabria
Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...
and Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba and capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province in the south-eastern area of the island, some south-east of the Cuban capital of Havana....
, Don Antonio López y López. He was the first Marques de Comillas
Marqués de Comillas
Marqués de Comillas is one of the 119 municipalities of Chiapas, in southern Mexico. Its municipal seat is Zamora Pico de Oro.As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 8,580. It covers an area of 933 km²....
and was famous for being an associate of the first Spanish Prime Minister with foreign blood, the Spanish-Filipino mestizo Don Marcelo Azcárraga y Palmero. His relative on his Spanish side, Ricardo Padilla, married Gloria Zóbel y Montojo (younger half sister of Mercedes Zóbel de Ayala de McMicking, largest Zóbel owner in the Ayala group of companies) and was an aide-de-camp of Juan de Borbón, Count of Barcelona, father of the current King of Spain, His Majesty Don Juan Carlos de todos los Santos de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias. The estate was named after Antonio's wife, Luisa Bru y Lassús. Their son, Claudio López, the second to hold the title , donated some of the profits to the Jesuits to create the Pontifical University of Comillas, a university outside Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
. López acquired the estate in 1882, a year before his death. López was a financial genius who parlayed his work adventures in Cuba and Latin America into a steamship, companies and trading businesses. 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 enterprise he founded with the sole intention of taking over the Philippine Tobacco Monopoly from the Spanish colonial government. This included the Hacienda Antonio (named after his eldest son), Hacienda San Fernando and Hacienda Isabel (named after his eldest daughter) in Cagayan
Cagayan
Cagayan , the "Land of Smiling Beauty", is a province of the Philippines in the Cagayan Valley region in Luzon. Its capital is Tuguegarao City and is located at the northeastern corner of the island of Luzon. Cagayan also includes the Babuyan Islands to the north. The province borders Ilocos Norte...
and Isabela provinces where the legendary La Flor de Isabela cigar was cultivated. Tabacalera’s incorporators were the Sociedad General de Crédito Inmobiliario Español, Banque de Paris which is now Paribas and Bank of the Netherlands which is now ABN-AMRO. The sugar and tobacco in the Philippines were the reason why the López de Comillas family were able to donate such a huge pontifical university to the Jesuits on top of lavishing on their home, the Palacio de Sobrellano in Comillas
Comillas
Comillas is a small township and municipality in the northern reaches of Spain, in the autonomous community of Cantabria. The Marquisate of Comillas, a fiefdom of Spanish nobility, holds ceremonial office in the seat of power at a small castle which overlooks the town.-Marquis of Comillas:The first...
and the Güell park (designed by Gaudí) in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. Don Alfonso Güell y Martos born in 1958, the fourth Marquis of Comillas, currently holds the title. He is also the Count of San Pedro de Ruiseñada, the third to hold that title. Both are grandee
Grandee
Grandee is the word used to render in English the Iberic high aristocratic title Grande , used by the Spanish nobility; Portuguese nobility, and Brazilian nobility....
status in Spain and as such can address the King as "mi primo" or "my cousin."
American period
Contrary to what was expected, Spanish-owned Hacienda Luisita did not languish when the Americans took full control of the Philippine government. In fact, Tabacalera as a whole experienced prosperous times because of the legendary sweet tooth of the Americans. With Cuban sugar not enough for their domestic market, the Americans tapped the Philippines for its sugarcane requirements. At one point during pre-war Manila times, Hacienda Luisita supplied almost 20% of all sugar in the United States. Luisita sugar became popular among Filipino (specifically IlocanoIlocano people
The Ilocano or Ilokano people are the third largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group. Aside from being referred to as Ilocanos, from "i"-from, and "looc"-bay, they also refer to themselves as Samtoy, from the Ilocano phrase "sao mi ditoy", meaning 'our language here.' The word "Ilocano" came from...
) expatriates in America just as much as Victorias sugar was popular among Manila’s elite circles back home. The Americans also brought the centrifugal-based machinery which doubled the production 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
Roxas
Roxas various by language: Roahaas , Roahous , Rohan , Rohanna , Rojo , Roja Red , Rocksas , Rocksberry, Roxbury, Roxberry, Rowhous , Rosas , Roxburg , Roxburghe , Roxborough , Rocshire , Roxshire , Rochas and Rocha , Roach , Roashan Places in the Philippines:* Pres. Manuel A...
y Zobel
Zobel
The original German term Zobel or its Spanish and Filipino renditions Zóbel is a surname, and may refer to:People* Enrique Zobel* Fernando Zobel* Fernando Zobel de Ayala* Hiller B...
families. As this new technology swept in Luzon and the sugar mills consolidated, many wealthy families fell into foreclosure or combined their resources. Some of the brave few like Honorio Ventura (who paid for Diosdado Macapagal
Diosdado Macapagal
Diosdado Pangan Macapagal was the ninth President of the Philippines, serving from 1961 to 1965, and the sixth Vice President, serving from 1957 to 1961. He also served as a member of the House of Representatives, and headed the Constitutional Convention of 1970...
’s schooling), the De Leons, Urquicos, Lazatins and the Gonzálezes did just that--- which is how PASUDECO came into being. Structurally, there was little change in the hacienda; Tabacalera y Compañía positioned Spanish-Filipino and American-Filipino encargados and administradores to manage the vast estate.
Japanese regime
Like all haciendas and tabacaleras in the Philippines, the Hacienda Luisita continued to operate during the Japanese 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 any tempers of additional insurgencies and guerilla movements. The Spanish-Filipino administrators simply placed their subordinates, Japanese journeymen (who, like many impoverished Chinese immigrants from FujianFujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
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 good terms as both their interests were protected. As a matter of fact, even before World War II, the Tabacalera
Tabacalera
Tabacalera is a Spanish tobacco monopoly which was established in 1636, making it the oldest tobacco company in the world . In 1999 the company merged with SEITA of France to form Altadis. Its brands included Ducados and Fortuna....
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 while Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
were poor cities; Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
and Japan as a whole was relatively closed from the outside world then). When the Japanese Imperial Army marched into the country, these lowly migrant workers became valuable translators and managers.
MacArthur Headquarters
In conjunction with re-taking the Philippines from the Japanese, on January 25, 1945 General Douglas MacArthur moved his advanced headquarters forward to Hacienda Luisita.Pepe Cojuangco period
In the 1950s, the onset of the HukbalahapHukbalahap
The Hukbalahap , was the military arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines , formed in 1942 to fight the Japanese Empire's occupation of the Philippines during World War II. It fought a second war from 1946 to 1954 against the pro-Western leaders of their newly independent country...
rebellion led the Spanish owners of Tabacalera to sell Hacienda Luisita and the sugar mill Central Azucarera de Tarlac. Ramon Magsaysay
Ramon Magsaysay
Ramón del Fierro Magsaysay was the third President of the Republic of the Philippines from December 30, 1953 until his death in a plane crash in 1957. He was elected President under the banner of the Nacionalista Party.-Early life:Ramon F...
, then president of the Philippines, blocked the sale of the plantation to the eager and wealthy Lópezes of Iloilo. During those times the brothers Fernando López
Fernando Lopez
Fernando López,Sr. was a Filipino statesman. A member of the influential López Family of Iloilo, Fernando López served as Vice President for three terms, under President Elpidio Quirino for the Liberals and Ferdinand Marcos for the Nacionalistas.-Early life and career:López was born on April 13,...
and Eugenio López
Eugenio Lopez
-Philippines:*Eugenio Lopez, Sr., original owner of the Manila Chronicle and founder of Chronicle Broadcasting Network, see DWWX-TV*Eugenio Lopez, Jr., former CEO and president of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation...
as well as their cousins were one of the wealthiest in all of the Visayas Islands, save for a few Chinese Filipino
Chinese Filipino
A Chinese Filipino derived from two words: "Tsino" and "Pinoy" ) is a Philippine national of Chinese ethnicity but born/raised in the Philippines....
families in Cebú
Cebu
Cebu is a province in the Philippines, consisting of Cebu Island and 167 surrounding islands. It is located to the east of Negros, to the west of Leyte and Bohol islands...
and Leyte
Leyte
Leyte is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Tacloban City and occupies the northern three-quarters of the Leyte Island. Leyte is located west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran...
, 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 powerful after already owning Meralco
Meralco
The Manila Electric Company , also known as MERALCO or Meralco, is the Philippines' largest distributor of electrical power.The word MERALCO, is an acronym for Manila Electric Railroad And Light COmpany, which was the company's original name from 1903 to 1919.MERALCO is the Metro Manila's only...
, Negros Navigation
Negros Navigation
Negros Navigation Co., Inc. is one of the oldest domestic shipping companies in the Philippines. It is also one of the largest companies in the passenger transport business in the Philippines...
, Manila Chronicle
Manila Chronicle
The Manila Chronicle was a "quality newspaper" in the Philippines. It was founded in 1945 before World War II. Its founding newspapermen sold the newspaper to Eugenio Lopez. It closed when Martial Law was imposed by Ferdinand Marcos in 1972. It was published daily by the Manila Chronicle...
, ABS-CBN
ABS-CBN
ABS–CBN Corporation is a Philippine-based media conglomerate. It is the Philippines' largest media and entertainment conglomerate. The corporation was the merger of Alto Broadcasting System which at that time owned by James Lindenberg and Antonio Quirino, and the Chronicle Broadcasting Network ...
, various haciendas in Western Visayas
Western Visayas
Western Visayas, one of the regions of the Philippines, is designated as Region VI. It consists of six provinces; Aklan, Antique, Negros Occidental, Capiz, Guimaras and Iloilo and 16 cities making it the region with the highest number of cities. Iloilo City is the regional center...
and then the nearby PASUMIL consortium in del Carmen, Pampanga
Pampanga
Pampanga is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the City of San Fernando, Pampanga. Pampanga is bordered by the provinces of Bataan and Zambales to the west, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija to the north, and Bulacan to the southeast...
that they purchased from the Americans, the President offered the property to Jose Cojuangco
Jose Cojuangco
Jose Chichioco Cojuangco was a former Representative of the 1st district of Tarlac in the Philippines. He served from 1934 to 1946. Cojuangco is one of the patriarchs of the Cojuangco clan. He was the father of former Philippines President Corazon Aquino and the grandfather of current Philippines...
, popularly called “Pepe” through Magsaysay protégé and Don Pepe’s son-in-law, Benigno Aquino
Benigno Aquino, Jr.
Benigno Simeon "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. was a Filipino Senator and a former Governor of Tarlac. Aquino, together with Gerry Roxas and Jovito Salonga, formed the leadership of the opposition to the Marcos regime in the years leading to the imposition of martial law in the Philippines...
. Magsaysay also knew the Cojuangcos through his wife, Luz, of the prosperous Banzons, an old Chinese Filipino
Chinese Filipino
A Chinese Filipino derived from two words: "Tsino" and "Pinoy" ) is a Philippine national of Chinese ethnicity but born/raised in the Philippines....
family. Unfortunately, President Ramón Magsaysay
Ramon Magsaysay
Ramón del Fierro Magsaysay was the third President of the Republic of the Philippines from December 30, 1953 until his death in a plane crash in 1957. He was elected President under the banner of the Nacionalista Party.-Early life:Ramon F...
died in Mount Manunggal, Cebu
Cebu
Cebu is a province in the Philippines, consisting of Cebu Island and 167 surrounding islands. It is located to the east of Negros, to the west of Leyte and Bohol islands...
in 1957.
The sale was consummated in President Carlos P. García
Carlos P. Garcia
Carlos Polistico García was a Filipino teacher, poet, orator, lawyer, public official, political economist and guerrilla leader...
’s term, a close ally of then Senator Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, Sr. was a Filipino leader and an authoritarian President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He was a lawyer, member of the Philippine House of Representatives and a member of the Philippine Senate...
and five years from the day President Magsaysay offered the land. The José Cojuangcos were wealthy in land and bank 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 Pepe’s younger brother Eduardo Sr. (Danding Cojuangco’s 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 José Cojuangco
Jose Cojuangco
Jose Chichioco Cojuangco was a former Representative of the 1st district of Tarlac in the Philippines. He served from 1934 to 1946. Cojuangco is one of the patriarchs of the Cojuangco clan. He was the father of former Philippines President Corazon Aquino and the grandfather of current Philippines...
s acquired the property in 1958 through a loan from the Government Service Insurance System
Government Service Insurance System (Philippines)
The Government Service Insurance System is a government-owned and -controlled corporation in the Republic of the Philippines. Created by Commonwealth Act No...
and a dollar loan from the Manufacturers Trust Company of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, 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 Sugar Mills, though he and his cousins still 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 Pedro but his son-in-law Benigno Aquino Jr to administer the hacienda. Pepe and Ninoy introduced an almost social welfare state: free 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 farmers, 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 under the Tabacalera. He was able to sustain these losses due in part of his other more money making investments in the Bank of Commerce
Bank of Commerce
Bank of Commerce, also known as BankCom, Bancommerce and BoC, is a commercial bank and the 15th largest lender by asset in the Philippines. Its headquarters is at the San Miguel Properties Center, No. 7 Saint Francis Avenue, Mandaluyong...
and First Manila Management which owned the Pantranco buses and the Mantrade group.
Marcos period
As Ferdinand MarcosFerdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, Sr. was a Filipino leader and an authoritarian President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He was a lawyer, member of the Philippine House of Representatives and a member of the Philippine Senate...
was elected for a second term in 1969, the reverse happened to Pepe. At Bank of Commerce
Bank of Commerce
Bank of Commerce, also known as BankCom, Bancommerce and BoC, is a commercial bank and the 15th largest lender by asset in the Philippines. Its headquarters is at the San Miguel Properties Center, No. 7 Saint Francis Avenue, Mandaluyong...
, 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 three factions planned a coup d’ etat by toppling him from the presidency of the said bank. The three did not want Pedro (Pepe’s first born) to be bank president which was against the aging Pepe’s wishes. To avoid a scandal, Pepe Cojuangco sold his remaining shares in Bank of Commerce, almost equal to 28%, to his relatives. Thus Pepe lost his one of eventually three lifelines in nurturing the Hacienda Luisita.
As the 1970s crept in and immediately after Benigno Aquino Jr imprisonment on false charges, Pepe’s business empire began to wane. He was unable to purchase new machines and new technology for the aging sugar mill that stands in the middle of the estate because of the government’s refusal to Pantranco’s appeals for higher charges as compared to its competitors who have since been permitted so. Business critics believed it was Marcos’s way of pressuring Pepe to influence his son-in-law from attacking him and his wife, First Lady Imelda Marcos
Imelda Marcos
Imelda R. Marcos is a Filipino politician and widow of 10th Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. Upon the ascension of her husband to political power, she held various positions to the government until 1986...
(who recently built the Cultural Center of the Philippines
Cultural Center of the Philippines
The Cultural Center of the Philippines is a government-owned and controlled corporation established to preserve, develop and promote arts and culture in the Philippines. The CCP was established through Executive Order No. 30 s. 1966 by President Ferdinand Marcos...
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 lost their immunity from the Marcoses (Manuel was a close personal friend of Speaker Daniel Romualdez, Imelda's uncle). Ambassador Benjamin Romualdez, brother of Imelda, then coerced Pepe and his son-in-law, Ricardo “Baby” Lopa (Manuel’s son) into selling the collection 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
First United Bank
First United Bank, headquartered in Durant, Oklahoma, is the sixth largest bank in the state of Oklahoma with more than $2.05 billion in total assets...
, the banking concern Pepe built on his own after his ouster from the family owned Bank of Commerce
Bank of Commerce
Bank of Commerce, also known as BankCom, Bancommerce and BoC, is a commercial bank and the 15th largest lender by asset in the Philippines. Its headquarters is at the San Miguel Properties Center, No. 7 Saint Francis Avenue, Mandaluyong...
which he saved 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 nothing but a half-rehabilitated and barely earning white elephant
White elephant
A white elephant is an idiom for a valuable but burdensome possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost is out of proportion to its usefulness or worth...
of a hacienda. Practically all of his farm workers mourned his death. Many flooded his funeral Mass to see him off.
Aquino exile period
Pepe Cojuangco died on August 21, 1976, five years from the day of the Plaza Miranda bombing. His wife, Demetria Sumulong-Cojuangco, died due to colon cancer (the same 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 ChinabankChinabank
China Banking Corporation , known publicly as China Bank is Philippines' fourth largest universal bank by market capitalization. Established in 1920, it is the first privately-owned commercial bank in the Philippines. It is likewise the first bank in Southeast Asia to process deposit accounts...
of Binondo, who defied the anger of President and Mrs. Marcos by continuing to help them. Chinabank
Chinabank
China Banking Corporation , known publicly as China Bank is Philippines' fourth largest universal bank by market capitalization. Established in 1920, it is the first privately-owned commercial bank in the Philippines. It is likewise the first bank in Southeast Asia to process deposit accounts...
was partly owned by the Dee
Dee C. Chuan
Dee C. Chuan was a Chinese Filipino businessperson. He was a lumber manufacturer and a co-founder of China Banking Corporation.He was born in Fujian province, China.-References:*...
, Sycip
Albino SyCip
Albino Z. SyCip is a Chinese Filipino financier of pure Fujianese origin. He is known as the "Dean of Philippine Banking". He earned his law degree from the University of Michigan School of Law in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Albino co-founded Chinabank, establishing branches in Xiamen and Shanghai,...
and Lim families.
With Ninoy and his wife Cory Aquino in exile in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, the remaining 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 must 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 remained in Cojuangco hands. One, it helped that Danding Cojuangco was the de facto kingpin of Tarlac
Tarlac
Tarlac is a landlocked province of the Philippines located in the Luzon Island. Its capital is Tarlac City. Tarlac borders Pampanga to the south, Nueva Ecija to the east, Pangasinan to the north, and Zambales to the west...
and his kind mother Josephine Murphy Cojuangco was still cordial to them. For Marcos to touch 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 León
De León
De León or de León or De Leon may refer to:*De Leon, Texas, USA*De Leon Independent School District of De Leon, Texas*Manuel Márquez de León International Airport, the airport serving La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico...
s, Escalers, Urquicos, Arrastrias, Quiasons and Gonzalez
Gonzalez
-Places:* Gonzalez, Florida, United States* González, Tamaulipas, Mexico* González, Cesar, Colombia-Other:* Gonzalez , a group famous for the One-hit wonder I Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet** Gonzalez, a 1974 album by this band...
es 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
Negros Occidental
Negros Occidental is a province of the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is Bacolod City and it occupies the northwestern half of Negros Island; Negros Oriental is at the southeastern half...
. Third, Ninoy Aquino was not in the Philippines lambasting President Marcos in the underground movements. For as long as the Marcoses heard less of Pepe’s son-in-law, the less government pressure there was on the José Cojuangcos. Most importantly, it helped that most of the farm workers who remember Pepe understood the frugality measures his children had to implement.
Presidency of Corazon Aquino
On Pepe’s death anniversary and that of the bombing of Plaza Miranda, Ninoy Aquino was gunned down in broad daylight, August 21, 1983.Upon the installation of his wife, Cory, Pepe’s daughter, the property was folded into the Hacienda Luisita Incorporated established on August 23, 1988. In compliance with the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program of 1988, also known as CARP, is a Philippine state policy that ensures and promotes welfare of landless farmers and farm workers, as well as elevation of social justice and equity among rural areas...
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 a stock
Stock
The capital stock of a business entity represents the original capital paid into or invested in the business by its founders. It serves as a security for the creditors of a business since it cannot be withdrawn to the detriment of the creditors...
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 the 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 within 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 Cory’s 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 arrive in Cory Aquino’s 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 clan) or was awarded to them by the PCGG
PCGG
PCGG was the call sign of a privately owned Dutch radio station which was on air from 6 November 1919 until 11 November 1924. Broadcast from the home of its owner, the engineer Hanso Schotanus à Steringa Idzerda, in The Hague, the station is accounted one of the world's oldest radio stations and...
or Presidential Commission on Good Government
Presidential Commission on Good Government
The Presidential Commission on Good Government, PCGG, is a special body created by Pres. Corazon Aquino to recover ill-gotten wealth accumulated during the Marcos regime.-History:...
. The old sugar mill in the middle of Luisita remained rickety and with holes in its roofs.
Pedro Cojuangco period
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 fiscal reforms to achieve this goal. This partly explains why every year from 1988 until 2008 the Hacienda Luisita and its Central Azucarera de Tarlac posted hundreds of millions of losses. Only in 2009, buoyed by the huge demand for sugar and the unpredicted fluctuating prices of Brazilian sugar, did the family corporation post a profit. The various siblings stopped contributing money from their own non-hacienda corporations for the benefit of Pepe’s hacienda, which was a huge sigh of relief for them. On the other hand, the management style of the 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 blamed on the allies 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 Ginebra’s ethyl, molasses and sugar needs. This was refuted by Danding himself and his cousins believe in him.In 2005, the Department of Agrarian Reform
Department of Agrarian Reform (Philippines)
The Philippines' Department of Agrarian Reform , abbreviated as the DAR, is the executive department of the Philippine Government responsible for all land reform programs in the country, with the purported aim of promoting social justice and industrialization through massive taxation of rich and...
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 reconsider the revocation of the stock distribution agreement. However, the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the Philippines
The Supreme Court of the Philippines is the Philippines' highest judicial court, as well as the court of last resort. The court consists of 14 Associate Justices and 1 Chief Justice...
issued a temporary restraining order, stopping the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council from parceling out the land to the workers.
Massacre
On November 16, 2004, twelve picketing farmers and two children were killed and hundreds were injured when police and soldiers dispatched by then Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas, on behalf of the Cojuangco family , stormed a blockade by plantation workers. The protesters were pushing for fairer wages, increased benefits and, more broadly, a greater commitment for national land reform. Despite witness accounts of police, government soldiers and security personnel firing into the picket line, no arrests were made.Criticism
The Cojuangcos have often garnered criticism for their ownership of the estate. LeftistsLeft-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
have painted it as a symbol of the country's paralyzing oligarchy
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
, with some of the country's most powerful figures all having stakes in the property. The estate's incorporators, who control 70 percent of Hacienda Luisita's stock shares, are Pedro Cojuangco, Josephine C. Reyes, Teresita C. Lopa’s heirs, José Cojuangco, Jr.
Jose Cojuangco, Jr.
Jose Sumulong Cojuangco, Jr. , more popularly known as Peping Cojuangco, is a former Philippine Congressman and the current president of the Philippine Olympic Committee.-Personal life:...
, and Maria Paz C. Teopaco, all siblings of the late former President Corazon C. Aquino who, on the day she became President of the Philippines, bequeathed her shares to her children and the Daughters of Charity
Daughters of Charity
The Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, sometimes simply referred to as Daughters of Charity, is a Society of Apostolic Life for women within the Catholic Church. Its members take simple, private, annual vows...
and other non-profit organizations for fear that it would be used as political propaganda. The remaining 30 percent of the stock shares was given to farm workers under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program's stock distribution option scheme. The turmoil has reduced the output of property.