Duterte blames Cory Aquino for Luisita killings

MANILA, Philippines — The killing of farmers in Hacienda Luisita could have been prevented if the late former president Corazon Aquino included the sugar plantation in the land reform program, President Duterte said yesterday. 

“With regard to Doña Luisita, more than 100 persons died there along the way in the implementation of land reform. It could have been avoided if Doña Luisita had been included. She was the president. She was in control of everything,” Duterte said during the oathtaking of officers of the League of Provinces of the Philippines at Malacañang on Tuesday.

“How many killings took place there? Many were killed... she should have included Doña Luisita,” he said, referring to Aquino.

In 2004, seven farmers were killed and 121 others were wounded when government forces dispersed protesters near the gate of the sugar estate.

Duterte had earlier questioned Aquino’s sincerity in uplifting the plight of the landless when she exempted Hacienda Luisita from the land reform program.

The President also claimed Aquino became popular only after losing her husband in the hands of former strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

Hacienda Luisita, originally a 6,453-hectare sugar plantation, was owned by the Cojuangco clan, of which the late president belonged. Parts of the land had been sold to private firms over the years.

In 2012, the Supreme Court issued a ruling to distribute 4,916 hectares of the plantation. It also ordered the Department of Agrarian Reform and Land Bank of the Philippines to determine the compensation for the Cojuangco family.