Sa Ngalan ng Tubo Reaction Paper

Sa Ngalan ng Tubo is a 30-minute video documentary showing real life moments in vivid detail
that happened during the Hacienda Luisita violence and massacre that happened on November 16,
2004. It was filmed while the farmers tried negotiating with the landlords of Hacienda Luisita, the
Cojuangco-Aquino clan– demanding wage increase from their cruel daily wage of just 9.50 pesos, and
fair land distribution among the farmers. The documentary was able to reveal audacious scenes
containing extremely sensitive underground political themes that only a select few bold filmmakers
would dare tackle: the feudal dialectics of hierarchy and class contradiction between marginalized
farmers and fascist landlords. The clamor and the struggle intensifies when these farmers were forced
to use the only weapon they know in defending their right to justified wage and life – to protest and
strike. Yet, these repressive and feudal landlords retaliate with violence and brute force, despite the
wounds and injuries a lot of these farmers received. The farmers were able to win the case against the
Cojuangco-Aquino clan but unfortunately, it had come to a point that 7 peasants were killed in the
process of fighting for their rights, and when Corazon Aquino had (re)gained power and position as
the President of the Philippines after her late husband Ninoy Aquino, Secretary of Labor and
Employment Patricia Sto. Tomas issued an Assumption of Jurisdiction order to preempt the strike.

The Hacienda Luisita massacre will always be a resonating testament of the morbid plight of
more than 6,000 farmers who protested and even died in pursuit of a justified wage and a humane way
of living within the land. The farmers’ clamors for their rights were answered with violence and their
chants for a dignified life were answered with massacre and death. The Hacienda Luisita Massacre will
also be a significant reminder in history that there will always be a huge gap among the ruling class
and the Filipino masses, for justice can never be served as long as decadence exists within our society,
thus “just tiis” for those who cannot afford to buy their way in to the justice system and due process,
because it will always be the struggle of the marginalized lower classes in the social hierarchy against
the ruling classes’ dictated oppressive system that allows impunities and killings to happen to those
who wager their lives for their right to a decent and dignified life.