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Bukidnon farmers threaten to file a ‘class suit’ against recruiter

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Jan. 11 (PNA) -- About 42 farmers who fled from Hacienda Luisa in Tarlac were preparing a “class suit” involving human trafficking against a recruitment agency in the controversial estate.

Mario Memper, the leader of the farmers, said Wednesday that about 161 farmers from Bukidnon were recruited sometime in July last year by a recruitment agency to work in Hacienda Luisita.

“We were promised to be paid PHP 900 daily wage, but we were actually paid only PhP 9.45 for a daily eight-hour work,” Memper told reporters here.

Memper, together with farmers from Bukidnon and the 42 other farmers who escaped Hacienda Luisita in November last year, trooped down to Cagayan De Oro City Wednesday to hold a protest rally.

He said that of the 161 farmers who were recruited from Bukidnon by the Greenland Labor Cooperative in July, only 42 farmers managed to escape amid the heavily guarded hacienda.

According to Memper, the 119 other farmers who remained in the Hacienda Luisita were asking for the assistance of the Department of Labor and Employment and the Department of Agrarian Reform to intercede on their behalf.

Hacienda Luisita, a 6,453-hectare sugar plantation in Tarlac, is owned by the Cojuangcos.

“Ironically, the hacienda was covered under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program during the presidency of Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino, but has continued to operate despite a court order to distribute the sugar land to farmers,” Memper said.

He said that the farmers in Bukidnon held the protest-rally in Cagayan De Oro City in order that the DOLE, DAR and other line agencies could take notice of the plight of the farmers.

Memper said that the farmers would also file a case with violation of the human trafficking laws. (PNA)
NYP/CD/MARK FRANCISCO/

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