Some 50 farmers belonging to different militant groups on Friday trooped to the Chino Roces Bridge, formerly known as Mendiola bridge, to commemorate the death of seven sugar cane planters and the arrest of 120 farm workers and activists inside the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita five years ago.

Members of militant groups Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, Unyon ng Mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA), Anakpawis partylist group and Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), trooped to Mendiola Bridge in Manila at around 10 a.m., Friday to begin their 10-day remembrance of the incident in Hacienda Luisita that left seven striking workers dead, 200 others injured and 120 farm workers and activists arrested.

Gerry Corpuz, spokesman of Pamalakaya, said in an interview that nothing has changed since the bloody incident in Hacienda, Luisita in Tarlac and the woes of the farmers in claiming the disputed 6,453-hectare sugar estate, which he claimed have started since the year 1950, continue.

"We are not just here to commemorate the bloody carnage in Hacienda Luisita five years ago but also to remind the public of the plight and woes of the farmers and their families in claiming Hacienda Luisita.

Five years after the incident, we are now here to ask for the free distribution of the hacienda and to give justice to the seven farmers who died for the cause by prosecuting military and government officials," he said.

During the one-hour demonstration, KMP secretary general Danilo Ramos and Anakpawis secretary general Cherry Clemente led activists in lighting candles, offered prayers and delivered fiery speeches in the memory of Hacienda Luisita victims.

The KMP and Anakpawis leaders reminded Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, standard bearer of the Liberal Party (LP) in the 2010 presidential elections and son of the late former President Corazon Aquino should accept the fact that historically and lawfully, the Hacienda Luisita which his family refused to yield to farm workers belongs to the collective ownership of hacienda workers and its transfer to farm workers is nearly a century overdue.

“Senator Aquino should learn the history of Hacienda Luisita and stop making the usual run-around. It is time for the Aquino family to say goodbye to the sprawling 6,453 hectare sugar estate that does not really belong them and was acquired through dubious, manipulative and coercive means,” Clemente said.

Corpuz, meanwhile, criticized Aquino's inaction and indifference over the disputed estate as he described the LP senator as a "lame duck."

"Noynoy is a lameduck as far as Hacienda Luisita is concerned. A lame duck presidency is just what he has to offer," the Pamalakaya spokesman said.

For Lito Bais, spokesperson of and acting president of United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU), the Hacienda Luisita incident was a result of a political accommodation and political reward for the Cojuangcos for supporting President Arroyo's reelection bid in May 2004 elections, before the two political clans parted ways in 2005 when the Hello Garci scandal rocked the Arroyo administration.

“Remember Mrs. Arroyo and the Cojuangcos were the best of friends then. In the defense of a political ally, President Arroyo mobilized 1,000 government troops and cops to quell the legitimate strike and pursued the campaign of annihilation in the name of the Cojuangcos and in the name of its rabid anti-Left campaign and incorrigible national security doctrine,” he told the Manila Bulletin in an interview.

He recalled that then Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas allegedly ordered the violent dispersal of striking farm workers on November 16 on behalf of the Cojuangco family through the much abused pro-landlord and pro-capitalist tool known as “assumption of jurisdiction.”

The order, according to Bais, was echoed by spokesperson of Hacienda Luisita management to justify the killings as a “legitimate exercise of state power,” saying the work stoppage was “illegal and left-inspired.”

On November 6, 2004, farm workers went on strike and demanded the reinstatement of some 327 unionists, including nine union leaders, who were fired ten days earlier by the management of the hacienda and the sugar mill — Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT).